The number of complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service about St James’s Place Wealth Management increased 194% year-on-year to 1,426 in the first half of this year.

SJP, one of the UK's biggest wealth managers, was the most complained firm in relation to investments in the first half of 2025.

Of the 1,426 complaints lodged with the Ombudsman, 1,035 were in relation to decumulation and 367 were about investments. The FOS did not reveal the proportion of complaints that have been upheld.

SJP has been seeing an increase in the number of complaints registered with the Ombudsman since 2023. In the first half of 2024 there were 485 new complaints made.

Hargreaves Lansdown also saw high numbers of complaints with 116 new complaints. Some 74 were complaints about investments and 38 about decumulation.

In total, across the sector for the first half of 2025 there were 2,344 complaints related to investments and 4,085 in relation to decumulation. The uphold rate for complaints continued to hold steady at around a third.

The Ombudsman publishes complaints data about firms every six months showing the number and outcome of complaints it handles. It also publishes a summary of its data quarterly.

The latest quarterly data for July to September shows that case numbers have dropped 37% year-on-year to 46,300 complaints, which the Ombudsman attributed to professional representatives bringing fewer cases following the introduction of its new charging model.

The latest data shows professional representatives accounted for 4,300 cases in the second quarter of this financial year, with a higher proportion of complaints coming directly from consumers. In the same period in 2024/25, professional representatives lodged around 37,100 cases.

James Dipple-Johnstone, interim chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “Following a period of extraordinary demand, our case volumes are now starting to decrease as the measures we have implemented ensure the complaints which come to us are better-evidenced and ready to be investigated.

“The changes we have already introduced – and those we plan to make in the future – will allow us to focus on getting back to our core purpose for customers as a quick, informal and impartial alternative to the courts for resolving disputes.”