Financial Ombudsman Time Limits: Six Months, Six Years and Three Years

There are three separate deadlines in a Financial Ombudsman Service complaint, and people often mix them up. The first is the eight weeks a firm has to send you a final response before you can go to the ombudsman. The second is the six months you then have to refer the complaint, counted from the date of that final response. The third is the limit on the problem itself: six years from the event you are complaining about, or, if later, three years from when you became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, that you had cause for complaint¹.

The six-month deadline is the one that catches people out, because it runs from a letter rather than from the problem. You must contact the ombudsman within six months of getting the final response from the business³. If the firm never sends a final response, the clock works differently: you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman once eight weeks have passed, or sooner if the firm's response arrives and you are unhappy with it⁴.

Missing a deadline does not always end the matter. The ombudsman can still accept an out of time complaint where it considers the failure to complain within the time limits was due to exceptional circumstances, or where the firm consents¹. That is a discretion, not a right, so the dates matter.

Complain to the firm first: the eight-week wait

The ombudsman is not the first stop. Before bringing a complaint to it, the company involved has to be given the chance to put things right⁴. The firm then has eight weeks to give its final response, and that eight-week period is the same across most types of complaint, from current accounts to insurance and credit⁵.

If the firm does not send a final response letter within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with the response it does send, you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman⁴. The same rule appears across the ombudsman's consumer guidance: for mortgage difficulties, the firm should look into things and reply within eight weeks, and if you are not happy with the response, or it does not get back to you, the complaint can go to the ombudsman⁹. For payday loans, you can escalate after the lender's final response or after eight weeks, whichever is sooner¹⁰. For goods and services bought on credit, the same eight-week trigger applies¹¹.

In practice this means the eight-week wait is a maximum, not a minimum. If the firm replies in three weeks and you disagree with the outcome, you can go to the ombudsman then. If it replies in eight weeks, the six-month clock starts from the date on that letter. If it never replies, the eight-week mark is your starting gun, and the six-month limit runs from the end of that eight-week period¹².

Six months from the firm's final response

Once the firm sends its final response, you have six months from the date on that letter to take the complaint to the ombudsman⁷. The ombudsman's own guidance is blunt about it: you must contact it within six months from getting the final response from the business³. The same six-month figure appears in its PPI guidance, where you need to act within six months of the business's response¹³, and in its general how-to-complain material, where you need to make a complaint within six months from the date on your final response⁷.

Independent guidance says the same thing. Citizens Advice tells consumers they must complain to the ombudsman within six months of getting the bank or building society's final response, or from the end of the eight-week period if the firm has not responded¹⁴. MoneyHelper says you have six months to take your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service if you are still unhappy or the firm has not responded in time¹⁵. Which? puts the limit at six years from when you were sold the product, or three years from when you noticed something was wrong, whichever is later, and separately notes the six-month referral window¹⁶.

The six-month limit is counted from the date on the final response letter, not from when you read it or when you decided to act. That is why the date on the letter matters more than the date you received it. If the letter is unclear about your deadline, the ombudsman's customer adviser line can confirm the position before you assume the time has run out¹⁷.

The six-year and three-year limits on the problem itself

Separately from the six-month referral window, the ombudsman will not normally look at a complaint where what you are complaining about happened more than six years ago, or where you complain more than three years after you know there is a problem¹². Consumer Scotland sets out the same rule in its response to FCA consultation: the ombudsman can only consider a complaint referred to it within six years from the event complained of, or, if later, within three years from the date the complainant became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, they had cause for complaint¹.

The ombudsman's own case studies describe the two limits in the same terms: six years from when the event happened, or three years from when you first realised, or could have realised, that you had a reason to complain¹⁸. Its older annual review material uses the same wording: six years from the event the consumer is complaining about, or, if later, three years from when the consumer could reasonably have known they had cause for complaint¹⁹.

The three-year limit is the one that turns on knowledge rather than dates. It runs from when you became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, that you had cause for complaint, which is not always the date of the sale or the event¹. The ombudsman's mortgage endowment guidance shows how this can work against a complainant: it says the three-year time limit may start earlier if the customer knew or ought to have known there was cause for complaint before receiving a high risk warning letter²⁰. In other words, a warning letter does not necessarily reset the clock if the customer already had reason to know.

Other schemes set their own limits, and they are not all the same. The Pensions Ombudsman says that in most cases a complaint has to reach it within three years of whichever is later: the event being complained about, or the date the problem became known, or the date it should reasonably have become known²¹. The Claims Management Ombudsman uses the six-year test for events that happened more than six years ago². The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which handles council complaints rather than financial ones, normally expects contact within 12 months of realising the council has done something wrong²².

When a late complaint can still be heard

A missed deadline is not automatically the end. The ombudsman can still accept out of time complaints if it considers the complainant's failure to complain within the time limits was due to exceptional circumstances, or if the firm consents¹. Citizens Advice describes the practical effect: you can complain to the ombudsman after six months, but the ombudsman will ask the company whether it agrees the complaint can be investigated further²³.

That means a late complaint depends on the firm's agreement or on the ombudsman accepting that there were exceptional circumstances. Neither is guaranteed. The ombudsman's own guidance on what it can and cannot do is clear that there is a limit to how much it can tell a business to pay, and that time limits are one of the conditions attached to ombudsman schemes generally²⁴.

There are also product-specific rules that change the picture. For Help to Buy equity loan complaints, you must refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the date on the final response²⁶. For building warranties, the ombudsman can only look at complaints after the insurer has written a resolution or conciliation report, the report told the builder to do something by a deadline, and the builder failed to complete the works by the deadline or is insolvent or not co-operating²⁷. Those conditions sit on top of the general time limits.

Award limits: how much the ombudsman can tell a firm to pay

There is a limit on what the ombudsman can order a firm to pay, and the figure depends on when the complaint was referred and when the firm's act or omission happened²⁴. For complaints referred before 1 April 2019, the limit is £150,000⁶. For complaints referred between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2022 about acts or omissions by firms before 1 April 2019, it is £160,000⁶. For complaints referred between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 about acts or omissions before 1 April 2019, it is £170,000⁶. For complaints referred between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 about acts or omissions before 1 April 2019, it is £190,000⁶.

For acts or omissions on or after 1 April 2019, the figures are higher. Complaints referred between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022 carry a limit of £355,000, and complaints referred between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 carry a limit of £415,000⁶. Which? reports that the ombudsman can order a firm to put matters right and pay compensation of £445,000 or more, increasing each year with inflation, and that the maximum award against an insurance company is £445,000 for complaints brought on or after 1 April 2025²⁸. The ombudsman's own current limit is £455,000 for complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026 about acts or omissions that occurred on or after 1 April 2019⁶.

Where the ombudsman thinks compensation should be higher than its award limit, it can recommend that the financial business pays more, but it cannot make it do so²⁴. That distinction matters: a recommendation is not enforceable in the way an award is.

Where to get free help

The ombudsman service is free to consumers, and its customer adviser line can confirm whether a complaint is in time before you commit to anything¹⁷. MoneyHelper offers free, impartial guidance on financial complaints and on basic bank accounts¹⁵. Citizens Advice can help you work out whether a firm has followed the rules and how to frame a complaint²³. Which? publishes consumer-facing guidance on complaining to an ombudsman and on mis-sold products²⁵.

If your complaint is about a pension rather than a financial product, the Pensions Ombudsman is the relevant scheme, and its three-year rule applies instead²¹. If it is about a claims management company, the Claims Management Ombudsman handles it². For a dispute with a trader rather than a financial firm, the small claims route may be more appropriate, and the ombudsman and the courts are not mutually exclusive in every case.