At Resolver, we have a unique insight into the UK’s culture of complaints and consumer issues. As 2025 draws to a close we’re bringing you a roundup of our headline stats, highlighting the trends we’ve seen in the fastest-rising issues as well as the steepest declines.
The data we hold is based on the complaints that consumers raised via our free tool. While it certainly does not capture every single complaint that UK customers have made this year, it does reveal broader trends for the trickiest sectors, as well as the specific issues people are really struggling to get resolved. This in turn can help us discern how consumer concerns are evolving more broadly and where the next wave of complaints is likely to come from.
So without further ado, here’s our end-of-year look at which problems grew, which shrunk, and what remained stubbornly frustrating – plus, our thoughts on what these shifts may reveal about changing consumer behaviour.
Where complaints rose in 2025…
There were a few categories that saw massive complaint increases this year. These point towards changing consumer priorities and behaviours, especially the shift to digital ecosystems and home energy technology.
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Property insurance: +400%
This was the single biggest spike of the year. Complaints in this area, which have been historically low, signal a new consumer pain point – one we’ll be watching carefully in the coming year.
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Waste management: +200%
The dramatic rise in this area after years of lower levels of activity suggests falling standards in the industry. It may also suggest a more proactive attitude from consumers attempting to hold both private companies and local councils to account.
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Digital content: +184%
This issue has been growing year on year since 2022. These soaring complaint levels reflect how we have all become more reliant on digital purchases and subscriptions.
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Solar panels and PV: +80%
It seems more people upgraded their home energy technologies in 2025: growth in solar panel and photovoltaic solar cell installations is now driving higher rates of disputes than ever before.
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Mortgage broking: +100%
A broader trend we saw this year was an increase in disputes around insurance and financial advice. Mortgage broking had the biggest spike, reflecting a particularly turbulent mortgage market.
There were a few other areas which had only moderate increases but nonetheless remain among the most complained-about areas:
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Overdrafts
As living costs remain high, more customers than ever before are hovering near their overdraft limits, amplifying the impact and visibility of overdraft-related issues. Complaint growth here might also also stem from shifting bank fee structures and increased consumer sensitivity to unexpected charges.
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Credit rating disputes
Growing dependence on credit checks for everything from rentals to subscriptions means that more consumers are actively monitoring their scores. This means increased disputes over accuracy, data sharing, and slow correction times have become more common.
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Sell-Your-Car services
The rapid expansion of instant-valuation and online resale platforms for vehicles means higher complaint volumes. Among the main issues we see people reporting are discrepancies between quoted prices and in-person offers, as well as delays in payment and vehicle collection.
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Energy distributors
Complaint increases in this area are no surprise. Grid issues, shifting tariffs, and billing errors, especially following provider collapses and en-masse switching, continue to drive customer dissatisfaction across the energy market.
For stats on your industry or company contact us via Resolver Business
Where complaints fell in 2025…
2025 also saw some sectors shrink. Some issues like PPI were almost at zero after years of high volumes, having now been resolved on a national level and become irrelevant to most consumers.
A number of sectors saw declines which gave some interesting insights into changing norms in customer care, market trends and consumer expectations.
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Energy Debt: -90%
Even as energy complaints rose, the huge decline in complaints about energy debt specifically likely reflects major national interventions, including clearer repayment plans and improved support for vulnerable customers. With stricter oversight on debt collection practices, fewer disputes are escalating to complaint level.
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Waste water services: -86%
The substantial fall of waste water complaints surprised us. It likely reflects large-scale operational fixes and regulatory pressure. It is possible that some long-running infrastructure issues have been addressed, meaning fewer household-level service failures are reaching complaint channels.
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UK Border Force: -82%
Complaints here shrank considerably as post-pandemic travel systems have become more settled. Streamlined e-gate processes and fewer severe travel disruptions at ferry ports this summer appear to have reduced flashpoints that previously drove consumer frustration.
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SIPPs: -75%
A steep decline in complaints about Self-Invested Personal Pensions likely reflects regulatory tightening and clearer communication around fees and risk. Consolidation within the pensions industry means there are now fewer fringe providers, who were traditionally responsible for the majority of complaints.
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Cinemas: -72%
This dip may not indicate better customer care so much as a shrinking customer base. Declining footfall at local cinemas, driven by the rise of digital streaming platforms, simply means there are fewer opportunities for complaints to arise.
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Rubbish and recycling: -68%
This was another one which surprised us. It is possible that improved local council communication and more predictable collection schedules have helped reduce frustration. However, reduced complaint volumes may also reflect consumers lowering expectations following years of falling standards amidst tighter council budgets.
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Video streaming: -68%
This was one decline that speaks more to industry maturity than increased satisfaction. This year many platforms have stabilised their performance and focused on reducing major outages. With fewer technical issues there are simply less prompts for formal complaints.
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Cladding: -60%
The continued decline in cladding issues reflects progress in national remediation schemes. As more buildings move through assessment and repair stages, fewer homeowners are lodging new disputes.
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Gift cards: -59%
Fewer complaints here may stem from clearer expiry rules and stronger consumer protections. Retailers have also simplified digital redemption, cutting down on the usability issues that used to dominate this type of complaint.
The sectors that consistently cause headaches…
Some areas remain stable… but stubbornly problematic. In the case of the following sectors we’ve seen complaint volumes staying high year after year despite reforms, competition, or regulatory attention:
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Housing and Social Housing
Long-standing structural issues like repair delays, damp and mould, communication failures, and long wait times continue to drive complaints about housing both social and private. The resource constraints of councils, housing associations and private landlords, on top of ageing housing stock, means that getting quick fixes is more difficult than ever – and frustration is sky-high among UK tenants.
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Current accounts
With millions relying on them daily, even small glitches can generate large complaint volumes. Persistent pain points include disputed transactions and customer service delays, problems that are further exacerbated when banks migrate systems or tighten fraud checks.
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Mortgages
Mortgage complaints remain high due to complex rules, affordability assessments, and ongoing tensions around interest-rate changes. Consumers frequently challenge decisions related to arrears management, product transfers, and unexpected fees.
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Energy supply
Still one of the most volatile sectors, billing errors, tariff confusion, meter faults, and customer-service backlogs continue to stack up, reflecting an area that millions of UK households have ongoing issues with.
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Broadband
Slow speeds, patchy connections, and unsuccessful engineer visits keep broadband near the top of complaint charts. As more of daily life depends on a reliable connection, we are less and less tolerant of outages or poor performance.
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Travel insurance
Complex exclusions, slow claim processing, and disputes over what qualifies as a “valid” reason for cancellation are all issues that contribute to persistent dissatisfaction with travel insurers.
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Trains (including London services)
It’s not exactly a surprise… Chronic delays, cancellations, and overcrowding continue to drive commuter complaints. Even where compensation schemes exist, inconsistencies in communication and eligibility frequently add to passenger frustration.
Finally… Complaint Chart-Toppers: The most complained-about categories of 2025
Regardless of direction, some sectors dominate by sheer volume: in 2025, retail, travel, and financial services made up the core of UK consumer complaints. The following products and services in particular received the highest number of complaint raised via our free tool:
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Online shopping – 35,314
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Flights – 20,500
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Delivery services – 10,921
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In-store shopping – 5,260
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Loans or finance – 4,114
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Mobile phone contracts – 3,863
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Energy supply – 2,708
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General services – 2,573
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Travel agents – 2,213
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Current accounts – 2,223
While these categories define the UK’s recurring consumer pain points, there are some other sectors – just shy of the top ten – which deserve a special mention for levels of consumer dissatisfaction:
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Gambling
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Takeaways
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Hotels
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Broadband
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Parking
Key findings
What’s clear is that retail and travel still dominate: online and in-store shopping, flights and delivery services, remain the UK’s largest consumer problem areas.
Complaints about financial services also stay consistently high, with current accounts, credit cards, loans, and mobile contracts continuing to generate steady levels of dissatisfaction.
The fastest growing issue is clearly digital content – with the number of complaints jumping from just 3 cases in 2022 to over 1,100 in 2025!
The new problem areas that are emerging – and that we’ll be watching closely in 2026 – are property insurance, solar energy tech, tax calculations, and mortgage broking.
If you have any thoughts on this topic, or any other consumer issues you would like us to cover, feel free to get in touch with us at support@resolver.co.uk.
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