The UK ombudsman sided with the customer in 30% of complaints that got past the firm
Prove it
30%
of the cases the UK Financial Ombudsman resolved in 2025/26, from 214,649 new cases
The Financial Ombudsman Service upheld 30% of the cases it resolved in 2025/26. It received 214,649 new cases that year.
A closed complaint tells you the firm’s process ended. The ombudsman’s rate is a separate, outside read on the same cases.
The UK ombudsman sided with the customer in 30% of complaints that got past the firm
Uphold rate by product, cases resolved in 2025/26. FOS rounds to whole percentages. Bars are labelled with cases received, because FOS does not publish resolved-case counts by product.
The line marks the 30% uphold rate across all products.
Financial Ombudsman Service, annual complaints data 2025/26 (published 21 May 2026), Open Government Licence v3.0. 214,649 new cases in the year; ten products shown, 104,689 cases. Read 25 Sep 2026.
What we counted
A complaint reaches the ombudsman only after the firm has had its turn: a final response, or eight weeks without one (15 days for some payment complaints). Across ten everyday products the uphold rate ran from 24% for personal loans and point-of-sale loans to 41% for pet insurance. These are the ombudsman’s own published figures, rounded to whole percentages. We chose the ten products before reading the rates.
Try this week
Take ten complaints your team closed last month with no change for the customer, have someone outside the team grade them as an ombudsman would, and if more than three flip, review the rule that closed them.
Limits
An upheld case does not prove the firm fixed nothing; the fix may have come late or the redress may have been too small. People who take a complaint to an ombudsman are a determined minority.
Source: Financial Ombudsman Service, annual complaints data and insight 2025/26 (published 21 May 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), read 25 Sep 2026. Sample: 214,649 new cases, all products; ten products shown, 104,689 cases. Period: 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2026. Aggregation: product, as published by FOS; uphold rates on cases resolved in the year. Caveat: rates are rounded by FOS; an upheld case is not proof of no fix.
How we count: onclarity.com/labs/method
Public data, analysed by OnClarity Labs. Sector level only; no company or person named.
