UK financial services firms are being forced to disclose the number of disputes they handle under a plan to improve complaint-handling across the sector.

The new rules cover five product areas: general insurance and pure protection, life and pensions, banking, home finance and investments.

Under the Financial Services Authority (FSA) directive, firms that receive more than 500 complaints within six months will be forced to disclose how they handle complaints from customers.

Firms must reveal the number of claims opened and closed, the percentage closed within eight weeks, and the percentage of claims upheld.

A spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au the FSA’s analysis of companies’ data supplied over the past three years “shows that there are very few firms with 500 or more complaints that did not have 500 or more complaints in the previous period”.

The regulator will use the data to publish a consolidated list, which it hopes will encourage firms to handle complaints more effectively.

An initial list is due for publication in September.