Scope: this page identifies the usual route, not a universal deadline. Some procedures differ across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and specialist appeal or court time limits can continue running while a complaint is open.
Start here
Build the route in four decisions.
The same complaint method can be reused, but the destination changes with the respondent, the issue and the remedy. Work through these questions before writing to an external body.
Use the correct legal entity, public authority, landlord, provider or professional firm.
This may be a complaint, review, appeal, grievance, statutory procedure or service request.
Look for a final response, deadlock letter, completed stages, elapsed period or completion letter.
Redress, regulatory action, appeal and court remedies are separate routes.
Tribunal, statutory appeal, judicial review and court limits may run independently. If a formal deadline may apply, check it immediately rather than waiting for every complaint stage to finish.
Route directory
Choose the type of organisation.
Go to the closest sector first. If the problem crosses more than one area, build a separate route for each issue.
Choose the outcome
Redress and regulation are not the same thing.
A strong route starts with the result you are actually asking for. Contacting the most powerful-sounding body does not help if it cannot provide that result.
You need a personal outcome
Use a route that can determine your dispute or require the organisation to put something right.
- Refund, repair or replacement
- Decision changed or service provided
- Apology, explanation or correction
- Compensation or another remedy
You need standards enforced
A regulator or professional body may supervise conduct, systems or market rules, but may not decide your individual compensation claim.
- Unsafe or unlawful practice investigated
- Professional conduct considered
- Market intelligence recorded
- Wider enforcement or compliance action
Directory 01
Shopping, money and professional services
Start with the trader, regulated firm or professional provider. Then separate individual redress from wider regulatory reporting.
Goods, services and digital purchases
The right route depends on the contract, payment method, trader scheme and remedy sought.
Set out the fault, legal basis, evidence and remedy required.
Use an applicable ADR scheme, card or finance protection, chargeback, or a civil claim.
In England and Wales, suitable intelligence can be passed through Citizens Advice. This is not a refund route.
Financial services complaints
Most complaints follow the firm's regulated complaint process before the Financial Ombudsman Service can consider eligible disputes.
Ask for the complaint to be logged under the applicable FCA complaint rules.
Use the final response or applicable response deadline, then check the referral limit.
The FCA regulates firms and markets. It does not normally determine an individual's compensation complaint.
Claims, sales, renewals and cancellations
Challenge the insurer or broker against the policy wording, evidence, fair-treatment duties and the reason given for its decision.
Separate the claim decision, service failures and any sales or disclosure issue.
Eligible consumers can refer the dispute after the relevant final response or response period.
The FCA receives regulatory intelligence. Contract and negligence issues may also have a court route.
Solicitors and regulated legal providers
Poor service, professional conduct and negligence are different issues and may need different routes.
Use the firm's complaints partner or published complaints procedure.
For eligible complaints about service, delay, cost and complaint handling.
The SRA considers regulatory conduct. A negligence or loss claim is a separate route.
Misleading adverts, unsafe goods and problem traders
The advert or trading practice can be reported, but the personal remedy usually remains with the trader, payment provider, ADR scheme or court.
Ask the trader for the refund, correction or other contractual remedy.
The ASA assesses advertising against the relevant codes, not an ordinary compensation claim.
Report through the appropriate consumer service. Investigation and updates are not guaranteed.
Directory 02
Homes and essential services
Provider, landlord and property routes often use formal stages before independent redress. Safety, possession and disconnection issues may need urgent specialist advice.
Broadband, mobile and communications services
The provider handles the complaint first. Its ADR membership determines which external scheme can consider the dispute.
Ask for a complaint reference and a clear response to each disputed issue.
Escalate after deadlock or the applicable waiting period and check scheme eligibility.
Ofcom uses complaints as regulatory intelligence but does not usually decide individual compensation.
Gas and electricity suppliers
Billing, switching, metering, vulnerability and service complaints normally start with the supplier.
Record readings, bills, payments, contact history and the correction required.
Use deadlock or the current waiting-period gateway. Check the live scheme rules.
Ofgem regulates the market. Consumer support and individual dispute routes are separate.
Water and sewerage complaints
The route differs by nation. In England and Wales, complaints normally move from the company to CCW before any eligible adjudication route.
Use the provider's published complaint stages and retain the final response.
In England and Wales this is normally the Consumer Council for Water.
Eligibility depends on the issue, nation and whether the company procedure has finished.
Council and housing-association landlords
Landlord complaint stages and the Housing Ombudsman route are distinct from homelessness, allocation and statutory-review decisions.
Ask the landlord to apply the Complaint Handling Code and address every point and remedy.
The Ombudsman can consider eligible landlord-service and complaint-handling disputes.
Homelessness reviews, possession, disrepair claims and systemic regulation can follow different paths.
Landlords, letting agents and deposits
There is no single route for every tenancy dispute. Repairs, deposits, fees, redress-scheme complaints, enforcement and possession each have different gateways.
Identify who is responsible and set out the repair, repayment, correction or action required.
Use the relevant scheme where the issue falls within its jurisdiction.
The route depends on safety, licensing, harassment, fees, rent, disrepair or possession.
Directory 03
Public bodies, councils and health
The function being exercised determines the route. An ordinary complaint, statutory complaint, appeal, review, ombudsman complaint and governance concern are not interchangeable.
Services, decisions and maladministration
Start by identifying whether the issue is service failure, a challengeable decision, a statutory complaint, member conduct or a governance and lawfulness concern.
Use the ordinary complaint stages unless a statutory complaint, review or appeal applies.
The destination depends on jurisdiction, completed local stages and any alternative remedy.
This route concerns legality, constitutional governance and member standards, not ordinary service dissatisfaction.
Children's and adult social care
Social-care complaints may use statutory procedures rather than the council's ordinary corporate complaint stages.
Use it where the subject and complainant fall within the statutory scheme.
Complain to the council or commissioned provider while keeping the council's responsibility clear.
Escalation depends on jurisdiction and whether the local process has had a reasonable opportunity to respond.
Education complaints, reviews and appeals
The school, academy, council, Department for Education, SEND Tribunal and LGSCO have different jurisdictions.
Separate conduct and service complaints from admissions, exclusions, transport and EHCP decisions.
A statutory appeal may be the correct route and can carry a strict deadline.
The Ombudsman cannot replace a tribunal appeal and may be restricted by an available alternative remedy.
Care, service and clinical complaints
A complaint can seek explanation and learning. Professional regulation, safety reporting and clinical-negligence claims are separate routes.
Set out the care, records, communication and remedy issues and agree the complaint scope.
Use the relevant national ombudsman after local resolution where the complaint is eligible.
Safety, fitness to practise and compensation for negligence require different tests and procedures.
Central government and public agencies
The department's complaint procedure usually comes first, but benefits, immigration, tax and other decisions may have mandatory review or appeal routes.
Use the route attached to the particular decision or service failure.
Eligibility and access differ by nation and subject. Some ombudsman routes have referral requirements.
Do not substitute a complaint for an appeal or other time-limited legal remedy.
Directory 04
Work, education, travel and information rights
These routes often contain strict gateways or deadlines. Keep the internal complaint moving, but identify the formal legal or independent route immediately.
Workplace grievances, appeals and legal claims
An employer's grievance procedure can help resolve the issue, but it does not normally pause an employment tribunal deadline.
Identify the decision, policy, evidence, legal concern and outcome sought.
Check the deadline and start the required pre-claim process where a tribunal claim is contemplated.
The forum depends on the claim. Regulatory and whistleblowing reports may also be separate.
Universities and colleges
Academic appeals, service complaints, discrimination issues and disciplinary matters may follow different internal procedures.
Use the correct procedure and obtain the formal completion outcome.
In England and Wales, eligible complaints can normally proceed to the OIA after internal completion.
Which route applies depends on the nation, provider and nature of the dispute.
Airlines, rail, holidays and transport services
The operator, booking agent, package organiser, card provider and relevant ADR body may each deal with a different part of the problem.
Identify who contracted to provide the disputed service and who took payment.
Check membership and eligibility for aviation, rail or travel-sector schemes.
The CAA, ORR and other regulators do not replace every individual redress route.
Information-rights complaints
Data protection, subject access, freedom of information and environmental information use related but different legal routes.
Identify the right, inaccuracy, delay, misuse or missing information and the corrective action required.
Challenge refusals, exemptions, delay and inadequate searches through the correct statutory process.
The external route and available remedy depend on whether the issue is data protection, FOI or EIR.
Connected disputes
One event can create several complaint routes.
Do not force every issue into one body. Split the case by respondent, jurisdiction and remedy, then keep the evidence connected through one master chronology.
Example: mobile handset and finance
The service complaint may belong in telecom ADR, regulated credit issues may go to the Financial Ombudsman, inaccurate reporting may create a data-protection route, and a contractual claim may remain for court.
Example: solicitor service and conduct
Poor service may belong with the Legal Ombudsman, regulatory conduct may be reported to the SRA, and alleged professional negligence or financial loss may require separate legal advice and a civil claim.
Case control
Keep a route record for every live issue.
A short route map prevents missed gateways.
Update it whenever you receive a final response, deadlock letter, review decision or new evidence.
- Respondent
- The precise legal entity or public authority.
- Issue
- The decision, service failure, conduct or legal right being challenged.
- Internal route
- Complaint, review, appeal, grievance or statutory procedure.
- External body
- The ombudsman, ADR scheme, regulator, tribunal or court.
- Gateway
- The event that opens the external route.
- Deadline
- The earliest referral date and final time limit.
- Remedy
- What that body can actually order, recommend or investigate.
Official route checks
Confirm the live gateway before escalating.
- FCA, how to complain about a financial business
- Ofcom, alternative dispute resolution
- Energy Ombudsman, complaint process
- Housing Ombudsman, Complaint Handling Code
- LGSCO, make a complaint
- Information Commission, data-protection complaints
- Legal Ombudsman, complaints process
- Acas, Early Conciliation
- OIA, complaints about higher education
ConsumerWise explains the route in plain English. Always check the live official source where a deadline, waiting period, jurisdiction rule or referral requirement may have changed.
Need a personalised route?
Build it from your actual circumstances.
The right destination can change with the nation, sector, issue, complaint stage, desired outcome, urgency, payment method and any connected concerns. Choose the next step that fits your case.