Aviva

Aviva offer car, home, travel, life and health insurance. Here’s how to make a claim or complaint.

Updated: 2 August 2026

Company Overview

Industry: Insurance (motor, home, travel, health, life, pensions and investments)
Parent company: Aviva plc
Regulator: Financial Conduct Authority (life/pension entities also regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority)
Ombudsman: Financial Ombudsman Service (Pensions Ombudsman for pension complaints)
Legal entity: Aviva Insurance Limited (general insurance); Aviva Health UK Limited (health); Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited (life/pensions/investments)

2.75per 1,000Aviva Insurance Limited — complaints per 1,000 relevant policies (context measure)
60.02%(so ~96.7% closed within 8 weeks)Aviva Insurance Limited — complaints closed after 3 days but within 8 weeks

What customers complain about

The Aviva brand spans several FCA-authorised companies. General insurance (motor, home, travel) is underwritten by Aviva Insurance Limited; private medical cover by Aviva Health UK Limited; and life, pensions and investments by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited and related entities. All are part of Aviva plc and all are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the life/pension entities are also regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority). Aviva publishes its own complaints data separately for each of these businesses. In July 2025 Aviva completed its £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line Group, so the Direct Line, Churchill and Green Flag brands are now also part of the Aviva group. Whichever product you hold, Aviva must send a written final response within eight weeks; if it doesn't resolve things, you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge — except for pensions, where the escalation route is usually the Pensions Ombudsman.

Complaint categories

1
Claim decisions and settlement valuations
The most common cause of insurance complaints across the market is disagreement over whether a claim is paid and how much is offered — for example a home, motor or travel claim declined, or a settlement or write-off valuation the customer considers too low. With Aviva Insurance Limited upholding 57.39% of complaints in 2025 H1, a large share of complaints are resolved at least partly in the customer's favour.
FCA firm-level complaints data 2025 H1 (Aviva Insurance Limited, 48,979 complaints opened, 57.39% upheld): https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/data/firm-level-complaints-data-2025-h1.xlsx
2
Claims handling delays and communication
Service-type complaints — slow progress, chasing updates, or admin/billing errors — are a distinct category from claim-decision disputes. The FCA data shows Aviva closes about 37% of general insurance complaints within three days but around 3% still run beyond eight weeks, indicating a tail of more complex or contested cases.
FCA firm-level complaints data 2025 H1 (Aviva Insurance Limited: 36.66% closed within 3 days; 60.02% after 3 days but within 8 weeks): https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/data/firm-level-complaints-data-2025-h1.xlsx
3
Policy wording, exclusions and renewals
Reported (not officially quantified) themes include disputes over exclusions and cover changes at renewal — for example changes to home-insurance flood/water-related exclusions raised by customers around 2025 renewals. Treat these as reported themes from consumer forums, not verified complaint statistics.
Reported theme only (consumer forum discussion, labelled as unverified); not an official Aviva or FCA statistic.
4
Weather-related property claims volumes
Across the UK market, storm, flood, freeze and subsidence claims drove property claims to record levels in 2024-2025, increasing pressure on insurers' claims handling generally. This is market context rather than an Aviva-specific complaint figure.
Deloitte, UK property insurance claims expected to hit record high for 2025 (market context): https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/uk-property-insurance-claims-expected-to-hit-record-high-for-2025.html

Latest statistics

48,979Aviva Insurance Limited — general insurance & pure protection complaints opened2025 H1 (1 Jan–30 Jun 2025)
60.02%(so ~96.7% closed within 8 weeks)Aviva Insurance Limited — complaints closed after 3 days but within 8 weeks2025 H1 (1 Jan–30 Jun 2025)

Figures below are from the FCA's published firm-level complaints data (a primary regulatory source), for the reporting half-year 1 January to 30 June 2025 (2025 H1). The FCA reports each Aviva legal entity separately. Aviva also publishes its own complaints-data pages per business line at aviva.co.uk; those page-level figures were not machine-retrievable at the date checked (the site blocked automated access), so only the FCA-published numbers are quoted here — none are estimated.

Contact methods

Complaint journey

1
Identify the right Aviva company and route
What happens
Check your policy documents for the exact legal entity and product. Use aviva.co.uk/help-and-support/contact-us/complaints to reach the correct team — general insurance, health, and life/pensions are handled by different Aviva businesses.
2
Raise the complaint
What happens
Complain via MyAviva secure messaging, by phone on your product's number, or in writing to the customer relations address on your documents. State clearly whether it is a service complaint or a dispute about a claim decision or valuation.
3
Acknowledgement and investigation
What happens
Aviva records the complaint and investigates under the FCA's complaint-handling rules (DISP). Simple issues can be resolved within a few days; Aviva closed about 37% of general insurance complaints within three days in 2025 H1.
4
Final response (within 8 weeks)
What happens
Aviva must send a written final response, or explain why it can't yet, within 8 weeks. This letter should tell you your right to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (or, for pensions, the Pensions Ombudsman).
5
Escalate for free if unresolved
What happens
If you're unhappy with the final response, or 8 weeks have passed with no resolution, refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (pensions: the Pensions Ombudsman) within 6 months of the final response. It's free and independent.

Response times

Aviva aims to resolve complaints quickly and must issue a written final response within the FCA's 8-week deadline (many are closed within days — about 37% of Aviva Insurance Limited general insurance complaints within 3 days in 2025 H1). If you're not satisfied with the final response, or 8 weeks pass without one, you can escalate. The Financial Ombudsman Service normally requires you to refer the complaint within 6 months of Aviva's final response letter.

If your complaint isn’t resolved

If Aviva can’t put things right, you can escalate — free of charge — to an independent body:

Financial Ombudsman Service

Recent news

1 July 2025
Aviva completed its £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line Group, adding the Direct Line, Churchill and Green Flag brands and taking the combined group to around 20 million UK customers and roughly a fifth of the UK motor market.
Read more
1 March 2025
Aviva reported it paid out £1.89bn to support UK protection (life, critical illness, income protection) customers in 2024.
Read more
1 April 2025
Aviva said it detected 14% more claims fraud in 2024, part of a wider industry push on fraud detection.
Read more

Earlier cases

24 February 2015
The FCA fined Aviva Investors Global Services Limited £17,607,000 for systems and controls failings that allowed conflicts of interest to be managed unfairly (side-by-side fund management and trade-allocation weaknesses). Aviva also paid £132m in compensation to affected funds and received a 30% early-settlement discount.
Read more
5 October 2016
The FCA fined Aviva Pension Trustees UK Limited and Aviva Wrap UK Limited a combined £8,246,800 for failing to adequately oversee outsourced providers handling client money and custody assets (CASS breaches, 1 Jan 2013 to 2 Sep 2015). No client money was lost.
Read more

Know your rights

Insurance Act 2015
Governs the duty of fair presentation and the remedies available to insurers; limits an insurer's ability to refuse claims for non-deliberate, non-reckless non-disclosure. Relevant when Aviva declines a claim citing something you didn't tell them.
Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012
For consumer policies, you must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when buying or renewing. It restricts when an insurer like Aviva can avoid a policy or cut a claim for innocent mistakes, and sets proportionate remedies.
FCA Handbook — ICOBS and DISP
ICOBS sets rules on how insurance is sold and how claims must be handled promptly and fairly; DISP sets the complaint-handling rules including the 8-week final-response deadline and referral rights to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
FCA Consumer Duty (2023)
Requires Aviva to deliver good outcomes, avoid foreseeable harm, provide fair value and support customers — a standard the ombudsman can weigh when assessing whether a complaint was handled fairly.
Consumer Rights Act 2015
Requires services (including how a contract is administered) to be provided with reasonable care and skill, and outlaws unfair contract terms — relevant to service-quality complaints and to challenging unclear or unfair policy terms.

Frequently asked questions

Is complaining about an Aviva claim different from a service complaint?

The channel is the same — MyAviva, phone or in writing — and both fall under the FCA's 8-week rule and can go to the Financial Ombudsman. But a claims dispute (a declined claim, or a settlement/valuation you think is too low) needs the claim decision and supporting evidence, whereas a service complaint (delays, admin or billing errors, poor communication) is about how you were treated.

Which Aviva company do I complain to?

It depends on the product. Motor, home and travel are underwritten by Aviva Insurance Limited; private medical by Aviva Health UK Limited; life, pensions and investments by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited and related entities. The exact legal entity is on your policy documents, and Aviva's complaints page routes you to the right team.

How long does Aviva have to respond?

Aviva must send a written final response within 8 weeks. Many complaints are resolved faster — about 37% of Aviva Insurance Limited's general insurance complaints were closed within three days in the first half of 2025 (FCA data).

What if Aviva doesn't resolve my complaint?

You can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service for free, either after Aviva's final response or once 8 weeks have passed — usually within 6 months of the final response letter. For a complaint about an Aviva pension, the route is normally the Pensions Ombudsman instead.

Does the FCA handle my Aviva complaint?

No. The Financial Conduct Authority regulates Aviva but does not resolve individual complaints or award compensation. Individual disputes are handled by the Financial Ombudsman Service (or the Pensions Ombudsman for pensions).

Are Direct Line, Churchill and Green Flag now Aviva?

Yes — Aviva completed its acquisition of Direct Line Group on 1 July 2025, so those brands are part of the Aviva group. For now, complaints about those brands should still go through their own complaints channels.

What people are saying

Real experiences from people who have contacted Aviva.

No stories in this category yet.

Join the conversationComment on other people’s stories or share your own experience.