HM Treasury has made the Financial Services Act 2012 (Relevant Functions in relation to Complaints Scheme) (Amendment) Order 2026, S.I. 2026/726. The instrument was made on 1 July 2026, laid before Parliament on 2 July 2026 and comes into force across the UK on 23 July 2026. According to the text published on legislation.gov.uk, the measure does not alter the FCA's or PRA's substantive supervisory duties. It changes the legal list of regulatory functions that can be examined through the statutory Complaints Scheme, and it also corrects a defect in the earlier 2014 Order.
Section 84 of the Financial Services Act 2012 requires the FCA, the PRA and the Bank of England to run an independent scheme for complaints about their 'relevant functions'. The Explanatory Note uses maladministration as the example, which shows the purpose of the scheme: it is about how regulators exercise certain functions, not about rewriting regulatory policy. Section 85 of the 2012 Act allows the Treasury to specify additional functions that fall within that scheme. The 2014 Order is the working list, and S.I. 2026/726 updates that list to capture more of the FCA's anti-money laundering role while tightening several exclusions.
The main expansion sits in article 2(2)(b). This inserts the FCA's functions under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 into the set of relevant functions for complaints purposes. The same provision keeps two FCA functions outside the scheme: making technical standards under regulation 20(6) and giving guidance under regulation 48(1). In practical terms, complaints can now cover the FCA's handling of its supervisory work under the 2017 Regulations, but not its formal standard-setting or guidance-making role.
The Order also repairs drafting in the 2014 framework. In article 2(2)(a), the FCA entry linked to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017 is updated so that the exclusions properly refer to the function of giving guidance under paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 and the function of preparing and issuing a statement of policy under paragraph 14 of Schedule 1. That matters because the older wording referred to regulation 32 of the 2017 Regulations. The Treasury states in the Explanatory Note that S.I. 2026/726 is being made because of a defect in S.I. 2014/1195, and this amendment forms part of that correction.
The PRA position is recast in full. Article 3 of the 2014 Order is replaced so that the PRA's relevant functions now include its functions under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017, except its function of preparing and issuing a statement of policy under paragraph 14 of Schedule 1, and its functions under the Securitisation Regulations 2024. For firms, that does not create new prudential duties. It clarifies which parts of the PRA's existing work sit within the complaints route and which policy-style functions remain outside it. The Bank of England remains part of the wider statutory scheme under the 2012 Act, but this instrument does not amend the Bank's own listed functions.
For compliance teams, complaints handlers and legal advisers, the message is largely procedural. From 23 July 2026, there is a clearer basis for complaints about the FCA's administrative handling of anti-money laundering supervision, while complaints about guidance, policy statements and technical standards remain excluded where the Order says so. The Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, impact on the private sector, voluntary sector or community bodies is expected. The instrument is also being issued free of charge to all known recipients of S.I. 2014/1195, which is the standard signal that the Treasury is correcting earlier drafting rather than reopening the regulators' policy remit.
Firms that fall within the FCA's anti-money laundering supervision may wish to review internal escalation routes before 23 July 2026. The change does not create a merits appeal against supervisory judgment, but it does matter where a complaint concerns delay, process, communication or another administrative failing within a function now captured by the scheme. For readers tracking post-Brexit financial services legislation, the Order is also a reminder that secondary legislation still needs occasional technical correction. In this case, the Treasury has used a narrow amending instrument with just over three weeks between signature and commencement, aimed at tidying scope rather than changing the direction of regulation.