The Financial Services (Designated Consumer Body and Designated Representative Body) Order 2026

Made: 11th February 2026

Laid before Parliament: 12th February 2026

Coming into force: 17th March 2026

It appears to the Treasury that the body set out in this Order:

represents the interests of consumers in accordance with section 234C(3)(a) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000[^f00001] (“FSMA 2000”), and satisfies the other criteria published[^f00002] under section 234C(3)(b) of FSMA 2000; and represents the interests of those who use, or are likely to use, services provided by payment systems in accordance with section 68(3)(a) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013[^f00003] (“FSBRA 2013”), and satisfies the other criteria published[^f00004] under section 68(3)(b) of FSBRA 2013.

represents the interests of consumers in accordance with section 234C(3)(a) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000[^f00001] (“FSMA 2000”), and satisfies the other criteria published[^f00002] under section 234C(3)(b) of FSMA 2000; and

represents the interests of those who use, or are likely to use, services provided by payment systems in accordance with section 68(3)(a) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013[^f00003] (“FSBRA 2013”), and satisfies the other criteria published[^f00004] under section 68(3)(b) of FSBRA 2013.

The Treasury make this Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 234C(2) of FSMA 2000 and section 68(2) of FSBRA 2013.

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Financial Services (Designated Consumer Body and Designated Representative Body) Order 2026.

• (2) This Order comes into force on 17th March 2026.

• (3) This Order extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Designation of body

2

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute[^f00005] is designated as:

• (a) a designated consumer body under section 234C(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; and

• (b) a designated representative body under section 68(2) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013.

Signed

Christian Wakeford — Gen Kitchen — Two of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury — 11th February 2026

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Explanatory Note

This Order designates the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute as a designated consumer body under section 234C(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA 2000”) and a designated representative body under section 68(2) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (“FSBRA 2013”).

Under section 234C(3) of FSMA 2000, the Treasury may designate a body that appears to them to represent the interests of consumers of any description (see section 234C(4) of FSMA 2000 as to the meaning of “consumer”) and satisfies the other criteria published by them for a designated consumer body. A designated consumer body may make a complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) under section 234C(1) of FSMA 2000 that a feature, or combination of features, of a market in the United Kingdom for financial services or of a market in Great Britain for claims management services is, or appears to be, significantly damaging the interests of consumers.

Under section 68(3) of FSBRA 2013, the Treasury may designate a body that appears to them to represent the interests of those who use, or are likely to use, services provided by payment systems (“service-users”) of any description and satisfies the other criteria published by them for a designated representative body. A designated representative body may make a complaint to the Payment Systems Regulator (“PSR”) under section 68(1) of FSBRA 2013 that a feature, or combination of features, of a market in the United Kingdom for services provided by payment systems is, or appears to be, significantly damaging the interests of service-users.

The FCA or PSR, as the case may be, must respond to a complaint described above within 90 days after the day on which it was received, setting out how it proposes to deal with the complaint, including whether it intends to take any action and, if so, what action. The response must, among other things, state the reasons for its proposals (see section 234E of FSMA 2000 and section 69 of FSBRA 2013).

Under section 234C(1A) of FSMA 2000, a designated consumer body may not make a complaint to the FCA if it is a complaint which could be made to the PSR by a designated representative body under section 68 of FSBRA 2013.

The criteria for designation of designated consumer bodies was published by the Treasury on 12th March 2013 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-bodies-seeking-designation-as-super-complainants-to-the-financial-conduct-authority. The criteria for designation of designated representative bodies was published by the Treasury on 28th September 2015 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/super-complainants-for-the-payment-systems-regulator. Hard copies of these criteria may be obtained by writing to the Financial Services Group, HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for this Order as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2000 c. 8. Section 234C was inserted by section 43 of the Financial Services Act 2012 (c. 21).

[^f00002]: The criteria to be applied by the Treasury in determining whether to designate a body as a designated consumer body were published on 12th March 2013 on the Treasury’s website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-bodies-seeking-designation-as-super-complainants-to-the-financial-conduct-authority.

[^f00003]: 2013 c. 33.

[^f00004]: The criteria to be applied by the Treasury in determining whether to designate a body as a designated representative body were published on 28th September 2015 on the Treasury’s website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/super-complainants-for-the-payment-systems-regulator.

[^f00005]: Charity number 1166493.