Getting independent financial advice

You can’t complain to a financial adviser if your investment doesn’t make as much money as you’d hoped. But if you have lost money because of bad advice, wrong or misleading information or poor administration, you can complain to the adviser who originally gave you the advice.

You must follow the company's complaints procedure. If you’re not satisfied with the response, where you take the complaint next depends on who gave you the advice.

If the adviser you saw was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), you should take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. To find out if the Financial Ombudsman can deal with your complaint, you can call their consumer helpline on 0300 123 9 123 (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday). There’s also a special complaints form you can download and send to them by post. For more details visit the Financial Ombudsman website.

You can also find out from the consumer helpline whether the Financial Ombudsman can deal with a complaint about a company which is not authorised by the FCA.

If you received financial advice from a solicitor or accountant, who is authorised by the FCA to give financial advice, you may need to take your complaint to the professional body which regulates them.

If you’re not sure where to complain, you can contact the FCA consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768.