A large majority of consumers (84%) perceive “no improvement” in how financial providers treat them following the implementation of the FCA’s Consumer Duty one year ago.

Health insurers and pension providers receive the poorest reviews from customers, with over-reliance on live chat functions (30%) and poor customer communications (28%) being the top drivers for consumer dissatisfaction, according to a survey carried out by Smart Money People.

The financial services review site and data insights company also reveals 7% of consumers report worsening levels of service in the past 12 months.

Consumers’ biggest frustrations are having no access to human support (48%), untrained staff (34%) and no available phone number (32%). Despite these grievances, only 23% of customers have left a review for their provider in the past 12 months and only 35% said they have given feedback directly to their provider in the past five years, suggesting their negative experiences are not being recorded.

Customers who self-report as vulnerable have said that access to ‘real people’ is the most important factor for their service experience, which has been lacking.

Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People commented: “The FCA’s Consumer Duty guidelines are specifically designed to put the onus of consumer communications and outcomes on the provider. However our data shows customers are not seeing the impact of these guidelines 12 months later. It’s particularly concerning that vulnerable customers have not seen an improvement in their experience during this time. This is why we are encouraging consumers to feedback on both good and bad experiences. Smart Money People works with financial services organisations to better understand and serve their customers, helping to drive better outcomes for both providers and their customers.”

Smart Money People commissioned the June 2024 survey of 2,000 UK adults with Opinium Research. Analysis of Smart Money People’s own 2 million customer reviews was conducted during the same month.