FCA and PRA complaints scheme changes from 23 July 2026

This is the kind of legal update that can look tiny on first reading and then turn out to matter quite a lot once you ask a simple question: who can complain, and about what? On legislation.gov.uk, the Treasury says this order was made on 1 July 2026, laid before Parliament on 2 July 2026, and will come into force on 23 July 2026. It has been issued because of a defect in the 2014 order it amends, and the correction is being sent free of charge to all known recipients of that earlier instrument. That tells you straight away that this is not brand-new policy. It is a repair job to rules that already shape how complaints against financial regulators are handled.

The background matters here. Under section 84 of the Financial Services Act 2012, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England must have a scheme for the prompt, independent investigation of complaints made against them in respect of their relevant functions. The explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk gives maladministration as an example. **What this means:** if you are unhappy with something a regulator has done, the law does not start by asking only whether your complaint feels justified. It first asks whether the thing you are complaining about falls within a 'relevant function'. That definition is what decides whether the Complaints Scheme can look at it.

The 2014 order sits in that gap. Its job is to specify extra regulatory functions that count as relevant functions for the purposes of the complaints system. This 2026 amendment does two things at once: it adds some functions to the scheme, and it corrects drafting in the older order so the boundaries are clearer. That may sound technical, but boundaries are the whole story in a complaints process. If the law is vague about what is inside or outside the scheme, people can waste time pursuing complaints through the wrong route or miss the route they should have used.

For the FCA, one part of the amendment corrects how the 2014 order refers to functions under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017. The explanatory note says the FCA's function of giving guidance under paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 and its function of preparing and issuing a statement of policy under paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 are excluded from the Complaints Scheme. In plain English, the order draws a line between some actions the FCA takes in carrying out regulation and certain policy-style functions, such as guidance and statements of policy, that are not meant to be handled through this complaints route.

The most important addition is about money laundering rules. Article 2(2)(b) brings the FCA's functions under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 into the Complaints Scheme. But it does not bring in everything. The order excludes the FCA's function of making technical standards under regulation 20(6) and its function of giving guidance under regulation 48(1). **What this means:** coverage is wider than before, but not unlimited. If a complaint concerns how the FCA used certain functions under the 2017 money laundering regime, the scheme now has clearer reach. If the complaint is about technical standards or guidance themselves, those stay outside the scheme.

The PRA is affected too. The amendment replaces article 3 of the 2014 order so that, from 23 July 2026, the PRA's functions under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulations 2017 are relevant functions, except for its function of preparing and issuing a statement of policy under paragraph 14 of Schedule 1. It also says the PRA's functions under the Securitisation Regulations 2024 are relevant functions. That makes the PRA position easier to read because the law now states the coverage in one substituted article rather than leaving readers to piece it together from older amendments. If you are trying to understand whether a complaint about the PRA falls within the scheme, that clarity is useful in itself.

The order extends across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Treasury also says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, impact is expected for the private sector, voluntary sector or community bodies. It was signed on 1 July 2026 by Christian Wakeford and Lilian Greenwood for HM Treasury. The bigger lesson is simple. This does not rebuild the complaints system from scratch, but it does make accountability easier to map. Some FCA and PRA functions are now expressly brought within the complaints framework, while guidance, technical standards and statements of policy remain outside it. If you are learning how financial regulation works, this is a good example of how small drafting changes can shape who gets an answer when something goes wrong.