In this regular column for Financial Planning Today, Dr Matthew Connell, director of policy at the Personal Finance Society, looks at plans to limit complaint.

In the best traditions of the British summer, the FCA and the Treasury signed off their policy work in July with a stack of consultations.

One proposal in this compendium is sure to spark debate. It suggests that for complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service, certain products should be subject to a 10-year long stop. This probably would not apply to long-term products such as pensions and mortgages.

There are already time limits that prevent consumers complaining to the FOS long after they should reasonably have been aware that something was wrong, but this long stop would be different. It would apply from the point the conduct being complained about occurred, regardless of how easy or difficult it was for the customer to tell something was wrong.

All this raises the question, why should financial advisers – who have a distinguished record of improved professionalism running back to before the Retail Distribution Review – be given less protection from regulatory risk than, say motor finance distributors, who recently complained about the FCA establishing a redress scheme that went back to 2007.

Ultimately the only solution to this issue is genuine improvements in consumer understanding and record keeping. Financial advisers are already doing this by crafting high-quality conversations with clients that make their financial plans come alive.

• This column first appeared in Financial Planning Today magazine, Sept-Oct 2025 edition. Matthew's column appears in each issue of the magazine. You can subscribe to the magazine and read comment by leading industry figures by registering for Financial Planning Today website and then checking subscription options in 'My Account.'

Dr Matthew Connell is director of policy and public affairs for the Personal Finance Society.

https://www.thepfs.org/