New complaints to Fos that could have been prevented by a long-stop made up nearly a sixth of total complaints, according to complaint figures for 2013/14.
Released under the Freedom of Information Act, the latest figures suggest there were approximately 3,599 complaints against financial advisers, making up 0.5 per cent of the total made to the ombudsman.
In 538 of these cases the advice pertaining to the complaint was made 15 years or more before the complaint was lodged. Only 28 per cent – 150 – of these long-dated complaints were upheld.
A spokesman for Fos said cases that are 15-years-old or more only account for a “fraction” of its work.
He said: “Professional financial advice regularly involves proposing long-term investment strategies, which means disputes may not arise until much further down the line.
“We recognise that receiving a complaint involving older advice can be concerning for advisers – particularly if they’ve never had a complaint that’s been referred to the ombudsman before.
“So we’d encourage anyone struggling to deal with a complaint to speak to our helpline for financial businesses.”
Overall, the number of complaints that are 15 years old or more has remained fairly stable – fluctuating between 360 and 538 over the past five years and averaging 437 a year.
They have accounted for between 12 and 14 per cent of total complaints against advisers over the last five years.
While the rate of these older complaints that has been upheld has gone up, it has remained broadly stable, averaging at 27 per cent.
Trade body Apfa is currently in discussions with the FCA over the introduction of a long-stop, which would prevent cases from being brought to Fos after 15 years.
Apfa director general Chris Hannant said: “With regard to the long-stop review, we have got to the first stage – which was to get the FCA to acknowledge that it needed to look at it.
“We are now talking with the FCA about possible solutions and why it is important.”
He said: “The banks cannot continue to face a year-on-year billion pound liability, and they are currently talking about how we cap the liability so that people can move forward with their business and serve existing clients.
“This means there is a recognition that liability that stretches far out into the future is not good for business.
“Secondly, I think that people recognise that when running a large business or network, the costs associated with that open-ended liability are not attractive.”
A spokesman for the FCA said: “We have committed to a review of the long-stop and that work is ongoing.”
She did not respond to questions on when this review would be complete.
| Year | Total adviser complaints (per cent of total) | Total adviser complaints 15 years old or more | Uphold rate for 15-year-old complaints |
| 2010/11 | 2,766 (1.5%) | 367 | 23% |
| 2011/12 | 2,857 (1%) | 360 | 27% |
| 2012/13 | 4,139 (1%) | 517 | 31% |
| 2013/14 | 3,599 (0.5%) | 538 | 28% |
| 2014/15 | Not yet released | 407 | 30% |
| Total | 2189 | 27% |
Adviser view
Clive Balchin, managing director of Lancashire-based James Trickett & Sons, said: “I have been a financial adviser for 25 years and we have had the odd minor complaint, but touch wood we have not had a serious one but you just do not know nowadays.
“You don’t want to go to the grave with the threat of someone complaining against you, and most other businesses have a limitation.”
