Financial advisers were identified in 1% of all complaints, according to new data released today.

The number of new complaints logged with the ombudsman dropped 34% in 2021/22 following a high of 2,774 complaints in 2020/21.

The proportion of complaints about financial advisers where the event being complained about happened over 15 years ago halved to 7% (from 14% in 2021/22).

Overall there were 2,156 complaints about financial advisers that were resolved by the FOS in 2022/23, of which 41% were upheld. This is a slight increase from 2021/22 when of 2,150 complaints resolved, 32% were upheld in favour of the client.

Mis-sale and suitability of advice was the complaint area with both the highest number of complaints resolved (884) and upheld (62%).

There was also a high number of complaints resolved for administration or customer service with 503 complaints resolved with an uphold rate of 30%

The most complained about products in complaints about financial advisers were defined benefit transfers (not to a SIPP) with 399 complaints, of which 58% were upheld. This is a considerable rise from the 92 complaints seen in 2021/22 of which 52% were upheld.

The second most complained about advice product was personal pensions with 337 complaints, of which 43% were upheld.

Standard investments saw 269 complaints in relation to financial advice, with 41% of complaints upheld.

UCIS and other non-standard investments attracted 311 complaints, of which 64% were upheld.

The final most complained-about product in complaints about financial advisers was stocks and shares ISA, with 318 complaints of which 32% were upheld.

In the last financial year, the FOS received 165,149 complaints across all financial services compared to 164,560 complaints in 2021/22. It upheld 35% of the complaints it resolved, compared to 34% in the previous financial year.

Abby Thomas, chief executive and chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “Over the past year, the Financial Ombudsman Service continued to help hundreds of thousands of customers who had problems with financial businesses on issues across banking, lending, insurance and investments.

“If consumers have problems with their financial provider, they can come to our service with confidence that we’ll resolve their complaint fairly and impartially.”

The most complained about products were current accounts where 40% of 26,039 complaints were upheld. Over half of these complaints were about fraud and scams, and over a third were about administration and customer service.

There were 7,953 complaints about investments and 6,043 about pensions.