Latest Financial Ombudsman Scheme data released today shows a steady decline in the number of SIPP complaints upheld over the past year.

The percentage of complaints upheld in the last quarter was 49%, a drop on the 56% seen the previous quarter and well down on the 62% upheld in Q1 2019.

The number of new SIPP cases received in the quarter rose from 597 the previous quarter to 653 although the number of cases referred to the Ombudsman for adjudication fell to 88 from 161 the previous quarter and 384 in Q1 2019.

An Ombudsman spokesman told Financial Planning Today that the number of complaints about unregulated investments appeared to be falling but complaints about admin were rising.

The spokesman added that much of the drop in cases being adjudicated by the Ombudsman was due to complex investment cases previously received taking longer to resolve.

While the decline in complaints upheld will be welcomed by SIPP providers and advisers, the upheld rate for SIPPs is still higher than many other sectors such as PPI (17%), pension transfers and opt outs (34%) and annuities (29%).

Complaints about pension transfers and opt outs numbered 213 in the latest quarter with an upheld rate of 29%, down from the 34% seen the previous quarter.

As the deadline loomed for PPI complaints last year, the FOS received over 41,500 complaints up 72% increase on the previous three months (July-September). The FOS said it had received 2m PPI complaints in total.

Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman and chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “The ombudsman service has been receiving a significant number of complaints from consumers about PPI since 2011.

“There has never been another complaints issue on the same scale as PPI, and the volumes of complaints made to financial businesses around the deadline last August were truly unprecedented.”