Are there time limits for raising a complaint?

Most complaints from customers reach us within days or weeks of whatever has gone wrong — and that is when they are easiest to put right. But there are formal time limits set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that are worth knowing about.

Complaining to us

There is no minimum or maximum window for raising a complaint with us directly. If something has gone wrong and you want it looked at, please tell us using the Make a Complaint form on our Forms & Requests page, by email, or by phone. We will acknowledge it promptly and work on it.

The Financial Ombudsman Service time limit

If you receive our final response on a complaint and you remain unhappy, you can usually refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. That referral has a deadline:

• Six months from the date of our final response letter.

That six-month window is set in the FCA’s rules and the Ombudsman will normally not look at a complaint referred outside it, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The final response letter we send you will include the deadline date in writing so you do not need to count it.

The longer-running rules

The FCA’s rules also set out limits on how old an event can be when you complain. In short, the Ombudsman will normally not consider complaints made:

• more than six years after the event you are complaining about, or (if later);
• more than three years after the date you became aware (or ought reasonably to have become aware) that you had cause for complaint.

These rules apply to the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction; we will still consider a complaint raised with us outside those windows where it is fair to do so. If you are not sure whether your complaint falls inside the time limits, please raise it anyway — we will tell you where it stands.

Free help with the process

If you would like help putting a complaint together — for example because a health condition or other circumstance makes the process difficult — Citizens Advice offers free, independent advice. Our Additional Support Needs article explains how to record any support needs with us so we handle the complaint process in a way that works for you.