Ombudsman decisions
Financial Ombudsman Service uphold rates
Short answer
- Uphold rate, 2025/26
- 30% 1
- New complaints, 2025/26
- 214,600 1
- Uphold rate, July to September 2026
- 27%, or 31% excluding motor finance commission 4
- Award limit, complaints referred from 1 April 2026
- £455,000 for acts on or after 1 April 2019 6
What an uphold rate measures
The Financial Ombudsman Service defines upheld as complaints found in favour of the consumer 2. Its uphold rate is the share of the complaints it resolved that it upheld 1. Proactively settled complaints are recorded separately and do not count towards a business's change in outcome rate 2.
An investigator looks at the complaint first. If either side does not accept the investigator's answer, either can ask for an ombudsman review, and the ombudsman issues a final decision 7. The service says that if the consumer accepts its findings, the business must follow its instructions 7.
Uphold rates by product, 2025/26
| Product | New complaints | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Hire purchase (motor) 1 | 37,673 1 | 24% 1 |
| Current accounts 1 | 32,907 1 | 28% 1 |
| Credit cards 1 | 22,783 1 | 28% 1 |
| Car or motorcycle insurance 1 | 13,420 1 | 35% 1 |
| Electronic money 1 | 8,933 1 | 28% 1 |
| Personal loans 1 | 7,738 1 | 24% 1 |
| Buildings insurance 1 | 6,399 1 | 38% 1 |
| Overdrafts 1 | 5,863 1 | 29% 1 |
| First charge mortgages 1 | 4,553 1 | 27% 1 |
| Travel insurance 1 | 4,451 1 | 36% 1 |
| Personal Pensions 1 | 3,777 1 | 49% 1 |
Recent quarters
The motor hire purchase uphold rate was 31% in Q4 2025/26 8, 16% in Q1 2026/27 3 and 17% in Q2 2026/27 4. Current account complaints rose to about 10,300 in Q2 2026/27, from 8,900 in the previous quarter 4.
Volumes and motor finance
The service's news release on 2025/26 gives 214,600 new complaints, against 305,700 in 2024/25, which it calls a 30% reduction 5. Its headline says it resolved more than 220,000 cases, and a quote in the same release refers to over 224,000 complaints. The release does not reconcile the two 5.
The annual data page gives the same headline of 214,600 new complaints, but the rows of its product table add up to 214,649. The page does not explain the difference, and both figures are shown here as printed 1.
The release says the fall in new complaints was largely driven by complaints about motor finance commission and credit cards 5. It says around 82% of cases were referred by consumers or by friends and family on their behalf, and that charges for cases brought by professional representatives were introduced in April 2025 5.
Award limits
- The FCA Handbook rule DISP 3.7.4R sets a maximum award of £350,000 for a complaint about an act or omission on or after 1 April 2019, and £160,000 for one before that date 10.
- On 1 April each year these amounts are adjusted by the rise in CPI since January 2019, rounded down to the nearest £5,000. Each adjusted limit applies to complaints referred from that date up to and including the following 31 March 10.
- For complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026, the Financial Ombudsman Service gives a limit of £455,000 for acts on or after 1 April 2019 6.
- For complaints referred on or after 1 April 2025, it gives £445,000 for acts on or after 1 April 2019. Under the Handbook rule this limit covers referrals up to 31 March 2026 6,10.
- For complaints referred on or after 1 April 2024, it gives £430,000, covering referrals up to 31 March 2025 6,10.
- Above the limit, the service can recommend that the business pays more, but the business does not have to accept that recommendation 6.
Ombudsman rates and firm rates
UK firms reported that they upheld 54.8% of the complaints they closed in the first half of 2026 9. The FCA says Financial Ombudsman Service data measures different things and should not be compared directly with FCA data 9.
Common questions
What does upheld mean at the Financial Ombudsman Service?
A complaint found in favour of the consumer 2.
Does the business have to follow a final decision?
The service says that if the consumer accepts its findings, the business must follow its instructions 7.
How much can the Financial Ombudsman Service award?
Up to £455,000 for complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026 about acts on or after 1 April 2019. For complaints referred from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 the limit was £445,000 6,10.
Does it publish data for each business?
Its half-yearly tables list new cases by business and product, for businesses with at least 30 new and 30 resolved complaints 2.
Rules and charges change. Check the official source linked on this page before you pay or travel. Spotted an error? Email hello@consumercomplaintstats.com.
Sources
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Annual complaints data and insight 2025/26 (21 May 2026)
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Half-yearly complaints data: H1 2026 (22 October 2026)
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Quarterly complaints data: Q1 2026/27 (22 July 2026)
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Quarterly complaints data: Q2 2026/27 (22 October 2026)
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Financial Ombudsman resolved more than 220,000 cases in the last year (21 May 2026)
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Compensation
- Financial Ombudsman Service: What to expect
- Financial Ombudsman Service: Quarterly complaints data: Q4 2025/26 (21 May 2026)
- FCA: Complaints data: 2026 H1 (22 October 2026)
- FCA Handbook: DISP 3.7 Awards by the Ombudsman
Related
- Upheld and not upheld explained
What upheld, not upheld, partially upheld and similar labels mean at the UK FOS, the FCA, Ireland's FSPO, AFCA, the RBI Ombudsman, OBSI and the CFPB.
- How ombudsman decisions work
How financial ombudsman schemes in the UK, Canada, India and Ireland reach decisions, when they bind a firm, award limits and the routes to appeal.
- FCA firm complaints data explained
What the UK FCA publishes on complaints firms receive, who must report, the 2026 H1 figures, definitions and the limits the FCA sets out.
- Complaint data by product
How the CFPB, UK FOS and FCA, FCAC, OBSI, the RBI Ombudsman, Ireland's FSPO and BaFin split complaints by product, with the latest figures.
- Searching published ombudsman decisions and case studies
Where the UK, Irish, Canadian, Singapore and South African financial ombudsmen publish decisions, what you can filter by and what the records do not show.