Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) continue to shape the picture of insurer performance, and our latest analysis of Q2 2025 figures shows a shifting landscape.
Travel insurance recorded the largest increase in complaint volumes year-on-year, with more than 150 additional cases compared with the same quarter last year – a rise of 17%.
While volumes remain lower than motor and buildings insurance, this jump highlights ongoing customer frustrations. This is particularly true when it comes to claims, with some 83% of travel insurance complaints relating to the claims experience.
Perhaps the most striking insight, however, lies in the pet insurance market.
While complaint volumes edged up by around 4%, the upheld rate has surged from 33% in Q2 2024 to 49% this year, so almost one in every two complaints were resolved in favour of the customer. This suggests that insurers face systemic issues around claims handling and policy clarity in this market.
The claims process is a particular area of concern, with complaints about the claims process accounting for three quarters of all referrals to the ombudsman.
Rising costs on both sides are only adding to these challenges, and unless insurers can improve communication and provide greater clarity around policies and outcomes, the sustainability of the market will be increasingly called into question.
Motor and buildings insurance remain the largest sources of new complaints by volume, together accounting for more than 4,500 cases in the quarter. But with uphold rates closer to the mid-30% range, the real reputational risks may be found in lines like pets, where dissatisfied customers are far more likely to win their cases.
This shifting balance underlines the importance of not just tracking complaint volumes, but also the outcomes.
High uphold rates can be far more damaging to trust than sheer volume alone — and as the FOS data shows, some insurers still have work to do in aligning customer expectations with their products and processes.
How Insurance DataLab Can Help
Our market intelligence platform features quarterly data from the FOS covering complaint volumes and upheld rates, all broken down by company, business line, and complaint type.
Combining this with our other insights on claims, customer experience, and underwriting results, helps companies to evidence fair value and good customer outcomes.
Email Tariq Kench for a free demo or to find out more.