The volume of payment protection insurance complaints has quadrupled in the past year, new Financial Ombudsman Service figures show.

The latest Ombudsman’s News, published this morning, shows that the watchdog received 56,025 new PPI cases in the quarter ending June 2011.

This figure compares to just 13,520 new PPI cases in the quarter ending June 2010.

And the number of cases for the first quarter of 2011-12 also exceeds the total number of PPI complaints in the whole of 2009-10, which was 49,196.

And it is more than half the 104,597 new cases received by the ombudsman in the whole of last year.

But, the newsletter also shows that the proportion of cases resolved in favour of the consumer was down to 55% compared to 66% across the whole of last year.

The explosion of PPI has been the overwhelming factor driving recent hikes in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy for insurance brokers.

The rise in PPI claims has caused a massive leap in FSCS levies for brokers. Join hundreds of brokers by adding your name to our Fair Fees petition.