Insurance complaints still rising despite overall FOS disputes drop

The insurance industry saw some 10,800 new complaints lodged in the second quarter of 2025, 200 more than the 10,600 lodged in the same quarter last year.

This is according to the latest quarterly complaints data, published yesterday (29 October 2025) by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Despite the overall rise, however, complaints about car and motorcycle insurance – reliably in the FOS’s top five most disputed products across all financial sectors – did fall, with new complaints dropping from 3,400 in Q2 2024 to 3,200 in the most recent period.

Buildings insurance was the second most troublesome product, seeing 1,500 new consumer disputes lodged, nearly 250 fewer than the previous year.

Meanwhile, travel insurance, a previous area of concern for the FOS, saw 1,000 new complaints raised – a worrying increase of 200 on the same period last year.

Ambitious improvements

The slight bump in overall insurance related complaints ran contrary to the decrease in complaints volume the FOS reported across all financial sectors, with overall complaints totalling 46,300 in Q2 2025, some 37% below the same period last year.

James Dipple-Johnstone, interim chief ombudsman at the FOS, said: “We are undertaking an ambitious series of improvements to foster confidence in financial services now and in the future.

“Following a period of extraordinary demand, our case volumes are now starting to decrease as the measures we have implemented ensure the complaints which come to us are better-evidenced and ready to be investigated.

“The changes we have already introduced – and those we plan to make in the future – will allow us to focus on getting back to our core purpose for customers as a quick, informal and impartial alternative to the courts for resolving disputes.”