Scottish Widows had 86.42 per cent of its complaints upheld in the second half of last year, according to FCA data.
According to the Financial Conduct Authority’s complaints data published today (April 28), Scottish Widows’ figures related to total complaints across decumulation and pensions, insurance and pure protection and investments.
When just looking at the decumulation and pensions category, Coutts had 120 per cent of its complaints upheld, followed by LV (88.82 per cent) and Scottish Widows (86 per cent).
When looking at investment complaints, LV came first with 95.58 per cent upheld, followed by Scottish Widows (92.29 per cent) and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (86.7 per cent).
Overall the data revealed that in the second half of 2022, financial services firms received 1.79mn complaints, a fall of 6 per cent from the first half of 2022 (1.91mn).
The product groups that saw a fall in complaint numbers were banking and credit cards (5 per cent), insurance and pure protection (10 per cent), and investments (10 per cent).
The home finance product group saw the biggest increase (14 per cent) in complaints received by firms, from 88,514 in 2022 H1 to 101,331 in 2022 H2.
Decumulation and pensions also saw a 4 per cent increase in complaints from 70,200 in 2022 H1 to 73,069 in 2022 H2.
The FCA said the percentage of complaints upheld also fell from 61 per cent in 2022 H1 to 60 per cent in 2022 H2.
Before 2022 H2, the percentage of upheld complaints had been steadily rising since 2019 H2. The data also found that since 2016 H2, current accounts have remained the most complained about products.
But this trend has reversed with the number of complaints having decreased, from 528,850 in 2022 H1 to 500,371 in 2022 H2 (5 per cent).
The FCA said noticeable increases can also be seen in savings (including Isas) from 51,415 in 2022 H1 to 69,256 in 2022 H2 (35 per cent).
Other companies to feature on the FCA's list were St James’s Place with a total of 77.78 per cent complaints upheld.
Of these, 81.07 per cent of those linked to investment were upheld, followed by decumulation and pensions (76.54 per cent) and insurance and pure protection (70 per cent).
Phoenix Life and ReAssure had 75.99 per cent and 74.94 per cent of total complaints upheld, respectively.
For Phoenix Life, 100 per cent of home finance complaints were upheld, followed by investments (81.01 per cent), decumulation and pensions (76.6 per cent) and insurance and pure protection (65.94 per cent).
Likewise for ReAssure, insurance and pure protection (76.28 per cent), followed by investment (74.56 per cent) and decumulation and pensions (73.72 per cent).
Redress
In 2022 the total amount of redress fell 25 per cent, from £304mn in 2022 H1 to £228mn in 2022 H2.
This is a smaller decrease compared to the 2021 figures in which the total amount of redress fell 48 per cent, from £568mn in 2021 H1 to £294mn in 2022 H2.
The FCA said the decrease in the total amount of redress for 2022 can be largely attributed to insurance and pure protection that decreased by 55 per cent from £91mn in 2022 H1 to £41mn in 2022 H2.
