Information on FCA investigations and enforcement consumer duty - August 2026

The Consumer Duty took effect on 31 July 2023, for current (as opposed to closed-book) products.

1. For each of the three 12-month periods preceding that date, and each of the three 12-month periods following it, how many Enforcement actions were commenced by the FCA?

In respect of each of the latter three 12-month periods, how many of those investigations arose as a result of suspected breach or breaches of the Consumer Duty

For question 2, the table below shows how many of the relevant enforcement operations arose from suspected Consumer Duty breaches. It covers the latter three 12-month periods. We set out our approach to supervising and enforcing the Consumer Duty in our recent edition of Enforcement Watch. Our approach to the Duty is much broader than using our enforcement powers and includes deploying other tools such as skilled person reviews and supervisory interventions. From the outset, we recognised that firms would need some time to embed the Duty, and that we did not expect to use our enforcement powers immediately. We opened our first investigation in August 2024, and they have steadily increased since then.

The data in both the above tables reflects the number of enforcement operations. A single operation may involve investigations into multiple firms and/or individuals at any one time.