Latest figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service suggest SIPPs complaints in the current Ombudsman year will be 25% up on the previous year.

The FOS saw a rise in new SIPPs cases in its October to December 2017 quarter compared to the previous quarter, rising from 498 to 546 with the number of cases it upheld rising from 49% to 54%.

Despite the increase the number of enquiries received by the FOS about SIPPs fell in its second quarter of 2017/18 (July to Sept 2017) from 767 to 546 compared to the third quarter (Oct to Dec 2017).

Interestingly, in Q2 there were 269 SIPPs enquiries which were not taken on by the FOS as new cases. In the third quarter all new enquiries resulted in new cases.

FOS figures suggest that overall the percentage of cases being upheld may be falling although the number of cases is rising. In the whole of 2016/17 the percentage of cases upheld was 56% based on 1,493 cases. So far in the 2017/18 FOS year, with three quarters of figures recorded, the percentage of cases upheld is down to 51%.

However, with 1,575 cases so far during the current year, which has seen three quarters of figures released, the total number of new SIPPs cases reviewed by the FOS has already topped the previous full year (1,575 compared to 1,493). On current trends the total number of SIPPs cases for the 2017/18 year may top 2,000 - up about 25% on the previous year, dependent on fourth quarter figures.

In addition to SIPPs complaints, there were 408 personal pensions cases with 27% upheld, 316 investment ISA cases with 32% upheld, 74 endowment cases with 28% upheld and 243 cases related to portfolio management with 42% upheld.

There were 181 new cases related to occupation pension transfers and opt outs with 37% upheld compared to 114 and 25% upheld the previous quarter.

The biggest number of complaints remained PPI with 43,394 new cases during the quarter and 35% upheld, both a decline from the previous quarter.