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Why 31 July 2024 Was a Landmark Date for the FCA Consumer Duty
What the FCA’s Consumer Duty Means for Fairer Treatment, Greater Transparency and Better Outcomes for Customers
Written by Darren Carter. Last Updated on September 24, 2026
Significant Milestone in the Financial Services Industry!
31 July 2024 marked an important stage in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty.
The Duty had already applied to new and existing products and services open to sale or renewal from 31 July 2023. From 31 July 2024, it also applied to relevant closed products and services within its scope.
The Consumer Duty sets a higher standard of care for retail customers and requires firms within scope to focus on delivering good customer outcomes.
What Is the FCA Consumer Duty?
The Consumer Duty is a set of FCA rules and guidance that raises the standard of care firms should provide to retail customers.
At its centre is the Consumer Principle:
A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
The Duty is supported by three cross-cutting rules requiring firms to:
- act in good faith towards retail customers;
- avoid causing foreseeable harm; and
- enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives.
It also focuses on four key outcomes: products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support.
Why Was 31 July 2024 Important?
31 July 2024 was important for two separate reasons.
First, the Consumer Duty began applying to relevant closed products and services. These are products or services that are no longer open to new customers or, depending on the circumstances, no longer open to sale or renewal.
Second, firms with new and existing products and services were required to complete their first annual Consumer Duty governing-body assessment by 31 July 2024.
Those reports are intended to help firms assess whether retail customers are actually receiving the outcomes required by the Duty and identify areas where improvement is needed.
What the Consumer Duty Is Intended to Improve
The Consumer Duty is intended to raise standards across important parts of the relationship between financial firms and retail customers.
- Products and services: Firms should design and distribute products and services that meet the needs, characteristics and objectives of their target customers.
- Price and value: Firms must assess whether the overall benefits of a product or service are reasonable in relation to the price customers pay.
- Consumer understanding: Communications should give customers the information they need, at the right time and in a form they can understand.
- Consumer support: Firms should provide effective support throughout the customer relationship and avoid unreasonable barriers to obtaining help.
- Customers in vulnerable circumstances: Firms should consider customer needs and provide appropriate support where vulnerability affects how a customer engages with financial services.
The Duty raises standards, but it does not guarantee that every financial product will suit every consumer or that every individual dispute will result in the outcome the customer wants.
The FCA’s Ongoing Work
Consumer Duty Has Continued Beyond the 2024 Deadline
31 July 2024 was not the end of the Consumer Duty programme. Since then, the FCA has continued reviewing how firms are embedding the Duty and has published examples of good and poor practice across areas including consumer understanding, consumer support, complaints, vulnerable customers, outcome monitoring and board reporting.
The FCA has also carried out work within the insurance sector, including reviews of Consumer Duty outcome monitoring and claims-handling arrangements.
This ongoing work reinforces an important point: the Consumer Duty is not simply a one-off compliance deadline. Firms are expected to monitor the outcomes customers receive and make improvements where evidence shows that those outcomes fall short.
Looking Ahead
The FCA continues to monitor how firms embed the Consumer Duty and whether customers are receiving the required outcomes.
Its published reviews show examples of both good practice and areas where firms still need to improve. This includes how firms monitor customer outcomes, support vulnerable customers, communicate important information and remove unreasonable barriers to support.
The Consumer Duty should therefore be viewed as an ongoing regulatory standard rather than an initiative that ended when the final implementation deadline passed.
What Does the Consumer Duty Mean for Insurance Claims?
The Consumer Duty is relevant to retail insurance customers because support during a claim forms part of the wider customer relationship with a financial firm.
Depending on the firm and activity involved, the Duty can affect issues such as the clarity of communications, the support provided to customers and how firms identify and respond to foreseeable harm.
However, the Consumer Duty does not mean that every insurance claim must be accepted or that every disagreement must be resolved in the policyholder’s favour.
Specific insurance claims-handling rules also remain important. FCA rules require insurers to handle claims promptly and fairly, provide reasonable guidance and appropriate progress information, not unreasonably reject claims and settle promptly once settlement terms have been agreed.
Supporting Customers in Vulnerable Circumstances
The Consumer Duty also reinforces the importance of recognising and responding appropriately to customers in vulnerable circumstances.
Vulnerability can arise for many reasons, including health, major life events, financial resilience or difficulties understanding and engaging with financial services. A serious property loss can itself create additional stress and practical difficulties.
Firms should consider customer needs and provide support that enables customers in vulnerable circumstances to receive outcomes that are as good as those experienced by other customers.
For ILA, this means making communications clear, adapting support where appropriate and considering the individual circumstances of retail customers when providing insurance distribution services within the scope of the FCA rules.
Need Help Understanding an Existing Insurance Claim?
If you are dealing with an existing property insurance claim and are unsure about the insurer’s position, communications, evidence requirements or proposed settlement, Independent Loss Adjusters can provide free initial insurance claim advice.
If ILA is appointed, depending on the claim we can review relevant policy wording and evidence, help organise claim information and communicate with the insurer where we are appointed to do so.
Professional claim support does not guarantee that a claim will be accepted or that a particular outcome will be achieved. The position will depend on the policy wording, evidence and circumstances.
Our Insurance Claims Management page explains our service, scope and applicable fees.
For free initial insurance claim advice, call 0800 002 5178 or request a callback.
Darren Carter
Head of Marketing & Technology, Independent Loss Adjusters
Posted by Darren - Over 15 years' experience in online marketing within the insurance claims sector and works with ILA's loss adjusters and claims professionals to turn practical claims knowledge into clear, useful guidance for policyholders.Head of Marketing & Technology, Independent Loss Adjusters
Posted by Darren - Over 15 years' experience in online marketing within the insurance claims sector and works with ILA's loss adjusters and claims professionals to turn practical claims knowledge into clear, useful guidance for policyholders.
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