The FCA has refused to waive a £250 late submission fee despite being recommended to do so by The Complaints Commissioner which upheld a complaint against the regulator. 

A firm complained to the Complaints Commissioner that it was unfairly charged a late submission fee because the button to submit a document on the Connect system was difficult to see. 

The FCA says it will look at visual improvements to its Firm Details Attestation (FDA) system – a regular submission process for all regulated firms to confirm their details - but will not waive the fee.

The Complaints Commissioner said the submission system was "not user friendly."

The complainant said that they had saved the FDA on the FCA system but had not seen the ‘Submit’ button because it did not appear on their screen. Because of this the file was not submitted as the 'Submit' button was not clicked as required. Others have made similar complaints about difficulties using the system.

The complainant contacted the FCA to say the charge was unfair but the FCA refused to waive the fee. The complainant then contacted the Complaints Commissioner to appeal the decision.

The Complaints Commissioner is an independent body which considers complaints against the FCA.

The Commissioner said there was no evidence the ‘Submit’ button was not on the system, as the complainant said, but it was known that some people had difficult seeing the button as it was not easy to find. 

In their report the Commissioner told the complainant: “I agree with the FCA that there is no evidence that there was no ‘submit’ button and that it was on the system. Yet clearly you did not press it.

"You did not press it not because it was not there, as you argue (I can only assume because you do not fully recall what happened), because clearly it was there, but for some other reason. Given the known problems with the Connect system, it is not unreasonable to assume that the reason was that you did not see it.

“Given this is a known problem and that others have been affected, and that the FCA system is not user friendly, both of which the FCA has said it will be addressing in future, I ask the FCA to reconsider its position.”

The FCA says that despite The Complaints Commissioner's recommendation it will not waive the fee.

In a response to the Commissioner's report the FCA said today: "We have carefully considered the Final Report from the Complaints Commissioner (Commissioner).

"The Commissioner recommends that we waive the £250 fee we charged a firm for not submitting their mandatory Firms Details Attestation (FDA) on time in the view of the deficiencies in the Connect system. It’s important that firms submit their FDA on time each year because we use this data to ensure the Financial Services Register is kept up-to-date. Consumers rely on this information to verify firms’ legitimacy, make informed decisions, and report issues, while other organisations depend on it for compliance checks. 

"In this case, the Commissioner agrees in her Final Report that there is no evidence that the Connect system was deficient in that there was no ‘submit’ button. The firm completed the FDA on the Connect system but did not submit it. Following this, the firm received two additional reminders via email to submit their FDA return. The firm was therefore aware that it had not submitted a completed return.

"In accordance with its obligations to ensure regulatory returns are submitted on time, the firm had the opportunity to follow up to check what had happened at an earlier stage. Because of these reasons, we do not accept the recommendation to waive the £250 fee."

• Update: original story updated to include FCA response.