Year analysis

2026 complaint and ombudsman analysis

Detailed public analysis of the 2026 published Financial Ombudsman decision set, including complaint volume, outcome mix, product concentration, firm exposure, and recurring complaint themes.

Published decisions

6,521

2026 decision volume in the public corpus

Upheld rate

23.6%

1,542 upheld decisions

Page summary

6,521 published FOS decisions in 2026, including upheld-rate context, top firms, top products, recurring complaint themes, and representative cases.

Published decisions

6,521

2026 decision volume in the public corpus

Upheld rate

23.6%

1,542 upheld decisions

Latest published decision 15 Sept 2026

How to use this page

Read the metrics first, then the ranked view.

The top-line cards show scale and outcome context. The ranked view and representative decisions show where the slice is concentrated and what the published decision set actually looks like.

Published decisions

6,521

2026 decision volume in the public corpus

Upheld rate

23.6%

1,542 upheld decisions

Leading product

Banking and Payments

42.1% of annual decisions

Leading firm

Barclays Bank UK PLC

330 published decisions

What stood out in 2026

Analysis

6,521 published ombudsman decisions landed in 2026. 23.6% of those decisions were upheld, while 76.3% were not upheld. That makes 2026 a meaningful benchmark year for understanding where complaint pressure and adjudication risk sat across the corpus.

Banking and Payments was the heaviest product area, accounting for 2,744 decisions. Barclays Bank UK PLC appeared most often at firm level. The most frequently tagged complaint theme was delay in claim handling.

  • Banking and Payments: 2,744 decisions
  • Barclays Bank UK PLC: 330 decisions
  • Delay In Claim Handling: 2,052 tagged decisions
  • 2026 versus 2025: down 79.5% year on year

Product mix and concentration

Analysis

The year was led by Banking and Payments, Consumer Credit, Insurance, and others, which together represented the centre of complaint activity in the published decisions for 2026.

Banking and Payments alone contributed 42.1% of all decisions published in 2026, which makes it the clearest lens for understanding how complaint pressure expressed itself that year.

  • Banking and Payments: 2,744 decisions, 18.9% upheld
  • Consumer Credit: 1,743 decisions, 21.4% upheld
  • Insurance: 1,460 decisions, 30.8% upheld
  • Investments: 212 decisions, 26.4% upheld
  • Mortgages: 185 decisions, 35.1% upheld

Firm and complaint-theme signals

Analysis

Barclays Bank UK PLC, HSBC UK Bank Plc, Revolut Ltd, and others were the most visible firms in the published decisions for 2026. That does not prove complaint prevalence in a consumer-market sense, but it does show which firms were most exposed in the final ombudsman decisions dataset.

Complaint-theme tagging pointed most strongly to delay in claim handling, fraud or scam concern, affordability assessment failure, and others. These themes are the most useful public proxy for “complaint type” in this corpus because the raw decisions are not stored with a dedicated complaint-type field.

  • Most frequent precedent signal: Consumer Credit Act 1974
  • Second precedent signal: Section 140a Cca
  • Primary complaint theme: Delay In Claim Handling

Representative cases

Recent published decisions in this slice

5 examples shown

DRN-645099715 Sept 2026Not upheld

Wise Payments Limited · Banking and Payments

For the reasons set out above, I don’t uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask C to accept or reject my decision before 11 September 2026.

View source decision
DRN-590404118 Aug 2026Not upheld

NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY · Banking and Payments

For the reasons I’ve explained, my final decision is that I do not uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss R to accept or reject my decision before 15 September 2026.

View source decision
DRN-604249418 Aug 2026Not upheld

Alwyn Insurance Company Limited · Insurance

For the reasons given above, I don’t require Alwyn Insurance Company Limited to settle Mr D’s claim. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr D to accept or reject my decision before 15 September 2026.

View source decision
DRN-609843918 Aug 2026Not upheld

Revolut Ltd · Banking and Payments

For the reasons explained above, I do not uphold Mr W’s complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr W to accept or reject my decision before 15 September 2026.

View source decision
DRN-611811018 Aug 2026Not upheld

NewDay Ltd · Banking and Payments

My final decision is I do not uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr R to accept or reject my decision before 15 September 2026.

View source decision