The Financial Ombudsman Service says more complainants are going direct to its free complaints service rather than using professional representatives despite a rise in the number of cases.
The number of firms authorised to provide regulated claims management services has fallen markedly in recent years, almost halving since the FCA took over regulation of the sector from the Claims Management Regulator in April 2019.
The FCA has joined with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Information Commissioner’s Office and the Advertising Standards Authority to tackle misleading advertising and inadequate information provided by some claims management companies.
Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman soared by over 50% during the past year to top 305,000 - driven in large part by claims from professional representatives, including claims management companies.
The FCA says the standards of claims management companies (CMCs) are improving but there are areas where firms are not meeting its expectations.
