Health insurance complaints received and upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) have risen again in the second quarter of the financial year, following a decline in the previous three months.
Latest data from the FOS showed 491 complaints were received about private medical or dental insurance from July to September, with 24% upheld.
This compared with 429 received from April to June 2025 and 466 between January and March, with 25% upheld in both periods.
The figures come in the same week that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released data showing health insurance had again been the second most complained about financial product per 1,000 sales in the first half of the year.
However the picture was more mixed across protection product categories.
CI down, term and IP up
Across critical illness (CI) insurance, complaints fell to 134, 9% of which were upheld in Q. This was down from 163 with 14% upheld in Q1 and 155 in Q4 of the previous financial year.
However, it was a different story for term assurance where 263 complaints were received in Q2, 16% of which were upheld, up from 199 and 18% upheld in Q1, and 215 with 16% upheld in the final quarter of the previous year.
It was a similar story for income protection, with 215 complaints received, 23% upheld in Q2, up from 187 with 19% upheld in Q1 and 198 and 20% upheld in Q4 of the previous financial year.
Complaints numbers for whole of life and personal accident and other protection products are much fewer.
For whole of life product categories, complaints received fell in the reviewable category to 94 with 35% upheld from 113 with 43% upheld in Q1.
In contrast, non-reviewable product complaints almost doubled to 115 with 29% upheld, from 66 with 29% upheld in Q1.
Complaints and uphold rates remained the same for family income and long term care. Across personal accident cover, complaints were up marginally to 27.
Overall complaints down
Across financial services, new cases coming into the ombudsman dropped by more than a third in Q2, with 46,300 complaints received from July to September 2025.
This was down from 73,700 cases reported in the same period in 2024/25, and the 68,000 complaints FOS received in the first three months of this financial year – from April to June 2025.