FCA Compliant Complaints Handling

• To enable you to confidently support effective complaints handling.
• To understand the FCA’s expectations on how firms handle complaints and organise themselves to handle complaints.
• To recognise good practices and avoid poor practices.
• To recognise the linkages between the design and marketing of our products/services and our complaints experience – joined-up thinking.
• Knowing what constitutes a regulated complaint.
• To be able to review your complaints handling procedures, and determine if they are fit for purpose to deliver the right outcomes.
• Learn how to handle regulated complaints whether in person or by telephone, with a focus on particularly challenging complaints/complainants.
• Be able to identify the best response and win back that customer’s support.
• Understand the role of the FOS and what we need to inform clients about.

• We have delivered workshops on this subject for over 10 years, and have seen how the FCA complaint handling rules have changed and how firms have successfully adapted to them. We are also well aware of how FCA expectations have changed alongside best practices and mandatory updates.
• We have been delivering training for over 20 years on many other key subjects in the financial sector and complaints handling is one of our core competencies. We are certain we know the topic as well as anyone in the marketplace.
• We have served clients of all shapes and sizes in the financial sector and are fully aware of the obligations of a regulated firm and what is expected from them by the regulator.
• Our FCA complaints handling training course director is experienced as both a regulator and in complaint handling training across wholesale and retail financial firms. He will pass on past experiences to enhance the FCA complaints handling workshop and help bring it to life.
• We do not use academics. All our trainers are highly experienced professionals with relevant vocational experience in the real world.
• Our case studies enhance the learning points and are often found to be essential in truly understanding the requirements and growing the skills to apply them.
• We are always judged by our results which speak for themselves. The feedback received from previous delegates has always been excellent.

Our FCA complaints handling training course is designed for those working in UK-regulated firms and subject to the FCA complaint handling rules. Beyond that, the FCA complaints handling course will add value for anyone in either the first or second line responsible for dealing with, managing or responding to complaints including assessing the overall framework.

Associated bodies such as the Financial Services Ombudsman or other Alternative Dispute Resolution providers would also benefit from a core understanding of the process and regulatory expectations. Some experience of complaint handling would be beneficial but not essential.

The quality of your complaint handling processes and Complaints Data are key metrics for the FCA as they are important indicators of whether regulated firms are actually treating customers fairly by dealing with customer disappointment both professionally and promptly. With continued regulatory consideration of how complaints data gives insight into a firm’s commitment to treating customers fairly, firms, especially senior managers, should be looking at what they are doing to understand potentially negative outcomes for clients and to mitigate those.  Complaints Handling data is one of the tools the regulator can use to compare a firm across its peers – if you’re getting higher numbers of genuine complaints or FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) referrals, you can at some point expect some regulatory scrutiny of your processes.

Although complaint handling regulations haven’t changed significantly in recent years, there is an increased focus as a result of the cross-cutting rules in Consumer Duty. To achieve effective complaints handling we look at the “what” we need to do and “how” we deliver against that.

Our FCA complaints handling training course is designed to be enjoyable as well as instructional with delegate participation actively encouraged. Practical examples are used to illustrate the learning points rather than leaving them as theoretical.