A calm domestic sideboard with a closed notebook, glass of water, and small vase of dried stems in soft morning window light — illustrative image for an article explaining the FCA Bereavement Review and what bereaved customers can expect from regulated firms.

The Savvy Investor's Guide

FCA Bereavement Review 2026: What It Means for Grieving Families with Investments

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James Heppe-Smith

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If you have ever had to deal with a loved one’s investment account after a death, you will know it can feel like a second bereavement. Lost paperwork, repeated identity checks, fees that keep accruing on accounts no one is supposed to be using, calls that go nowhere. On 13 May 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority announced it is launching a thematic review of how investment platforms, advisers and wealth managers actually handle bereavement, after research found that fewer than half of bereaved customers (47%) felt they had received adequate support.

That research figure, 53% of bereaved customers saying their service was poor, is the regulator’s starting point. The review will examine communication, vulnerable-customer support, fee handling on bereaved accounts, and the timeliness of estate transfers. Here is what the FCA is doing, why it matters, and what to ask for if you are settling an estate right now.

The short version

  • The FCA announced its thematic review of investment-firm bereavement support on 13 May 2026. It covers platforms, financial advisers and wealth managers (the consumer-investment sector).
  • Trigger: FCA-commissioned research found 53% of bereaved customers thought the support they received was poor or very poor. Only 47% felt it was adequate.
  • Scope: communication, the vulnerable-customer framework under the Consumer Duty, service standards, fee handling on accounts where the client has died, identification and verification of personal representatives, and timeliness of asset transfers.
  • Firms will be contacted from May 2026 onwards; findings expected later in 2026.
  • The review builds on similar work the FCA has done in retail banking and insurance, where it found “unclear processes, repeated information requests and avoidable delays”, the same pattern bereaved families have been describing in investments.
  • If you are settling an estate now, you can ask any FCA-regulated firm to follow its vulnerable-customer process, to pause fee deductions on the account, and to provide a single named point of contact.

Why the FCA is reviewing this now

The Consumer Duty, in force since 31 July 2023, requires UK regulated firms to deliver good outcomes for retail customers, including in moments of vulnerability. Bereavement is one of the most clearly defined vulnerability situations the FCA recognises, alongside serious illness, financial difficulty, and major life events such as job loss or divorce.

Banking and general insurance went through their own bereavement reviews in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Both reviews uncovered patterns the regulator described as systemic rather than firm-specific: repeated requests for the same documents, unclear handover between departments, automatic fees continuing to be deducted from accounts marked deceased, and slow responses to grants of probate. Firms were given expected timescales for fixing the problems, and the FCA published thematic findings.

The 13 May 2026 announcement extends the same review approach to the consumer investment sector. The 53% poor-service figure is striking partly because investment products tend to involve larger sums than current accounts or insurance policies, and partly because there are usually fewer providers per estate to deal with. If the experience is poor at three or four firms rather than ten, the case for systemic causes (rather than individual mistakes) becomes stronger.

What the review will look at, in plain English

Communication

How firms first contact the next of kin, executor or administrator after a death is notified. Whether the language is clear and consistent. Whether documents and forms are available without re-explaining the death every time. Whether the firm allocates a named contact or rotates the case through a generic team.

Vulnerable-customer support

Whether the firm’s vulnerable-customer policy is genuinely operational or sits in a manual nobody reads. Staff training, escalation routes, whether emotional and practical support are offered, and whether the firm flexes its standard processes for the circumstances.

Fees and charges on deceased accounts

This is the area most likely to produce headline numbers from the review. Platform fees, ongoing advice charges, dealing fees and product charges often continue to be deducted from an account between the date of death and the date the assets are transferred or sold. The legal position is that the account holder has died and is not benefiting from the service, but the contractual machinery can keep running. Whether and how firms pause, refund or restructure those charges is in scope.

Identification of personal representatives

How firms verify the identity of the executor or administrator dealing with the estate. The bar must be proportionate to anti-money-laundering rules but the FCA is concerned about cases where firms have asked for the same documents repeatedly, refused to recognise grants of probate or representation issued by recognised registries, or required physical originals when copies would have been acceptable.

Timeliness

How long it actually takes from notification of death to completion of the estate’s instructions: transfer of assets to beneficiaries, sale of holdings, settlement of cash balances. Firms set their own service standards under the Consumer Duty; the review will look at whether those standards are being met.

What this means for you if you’re settling an estate now

The review will not produce findings until later in 2026 and the FCA’s required-firm-response action will come after that. None of it helps the executor dealing with a deceased relative’s ISA or SIPP this week. But the announcement itself usefully signals what the regulator considers firms should already be doing under the Consumer Duty, regardless of the review’s eventual findings.

If you are settling an estate now, the practical asks are:

  • Ask for a named contact. Most platforms and wealth managers have a bereavement team; ask for the name and direct contact details of the person handling your case, and use that route consistently.
  • Ask for the firm’s bereavement guide in writing. All major platforms produce one. It should set out the documents required, the timescales, the fee position, and the escalation route.
  • Ask explicitly about fee handling on the deceased account. The firm should be able to tell you which fees continue to accrue, which (if any) are paused, and what its policy on refunding charges to the estate is.
  • Send documents once, in good order. A certified copy of the death certificate, a copy of the grant of probate or letters of administration, and confirmed contact details for the executor are usually the minimum. Keep a covering log of what you sent, when, and to whom.
  • Escalate clearly. If you are not getting responses, ask in writing for the firm’s complaint process; cite the Consumer Duty’s vulnerable-customer obligations; and reference the Financial Ombudsman Service as the next step.
  • Don’t pay anyone else to do this for you unless they are an FCA-authorised firm, a regulated solicitor, or a regulated trust and estate professional. Unregulated “bereavement administrators” have proliferated; their fees can be substantial and the regulatory protections do not apply.

How this connects to the wider 2026 picture

The bereavement review is one of several Consumer-Duty-flavoured FCA workstreams running through 2026. Each of them touches on what investment platforms are expected to do for ordinary customers in moments where the standard product journey breaks down.

  • FCA Targeted Support regime (PS25/22), live since 6 April 2026, gives firms a new permitted activity sitting between general guidance and full regulated advice. It can be used to nudge groups of customers in similar circumstances, relevant where firms identify clusters of bereaved or near-bereavement customers who could benefit from product simplification.
  • Bereavement bundling with the pension IHT changes from 6 April 2027 will increase the volume of bereaved-customer cases that involve pension wrappers. Personal representatives will need to interact with scheme administrators on a new statutory timetable, including withholding notices and information requests. Savvy Investor Guide covers the pension IHT regime in detail in our pension inheritance tax 2027 estate planning guide.
  • Payment safeguarding (PS25/12) brought new protections for e-money and payment accounts from 7 May 2026, including in cases of death of the account holder.
  • FCA enforcement work on individual firm failings, including recent action on misselling and pension transfer misconduct.

Taken together, the picture is one in which the regulator is steadily turning Consumer Duty principle into specific operational expectation, sector by sector.

What might change once the review reports

The retail banking and insurance reviews led to a set of expectations the regulator now applies firmwide, including:

  • Standardised “tell us once” processes so a bereavement only has to be reported once across the firm’s product lines.
  • Pausing of automatic charges and direct debits where the account holder is deceased.
  • Clear timescales for transfer of assets following receipt of a grant of probate or representation.
  • Allocated case ownership so the family is not handed between departments.
  • Training requirements for staff dealing with bereaved customers, with vulnerable-customer policies embedded operationally rather than sitting in a manual.

If the consumer investment review follows the same pattern, expect comparable expectations to land for platforms, advisers and wealth managers across 2027.

FAQ

Does this review apply to my bank?

No. The retail banking sector went through its own thematic bereavement review in 2023 and the FCA’s expectations of banks are already in force. The 13 May 2026 review is specifically about consumer investment firms, platforms, financial advisers and wealth managers.

Does it cover my pension provider?

Pension scheme bereavement handling sits under a separate regime, including The Pensions Regulator’s expectations of trustees and administrators. Where a pension product is held on an FCA-regulated platform (a SIPP on a platform, for example), platform-level bereavement service quality is in scope of this review. Pension scheme-level bereavement service quality (the scheme administrator’s death benefit process) is not.

What if I’m dealing with an estate now and the firm is being unhelpful?

Ask for the firm’s bereavement guide and complaints procedure in writing. Cite the Consumer Duty’s vulnerable-customer obligations explicitly. If you do not get a satisfactory response within the firm’s complaint timescales, you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which provides free dispute resolution for retail consumer complaints against FCA-authorised firms.

Can fees keep being deducted from a deceased person’s investment account?

Practice varies. Some firms automatically pause fees on notification of death; others continue charging until assets are transferred or sold. The contractual position depends on the platform terms but the Consumer Duty arguably requires firms to deal with this proactively rather than waiting for the executor to ask. The review will look at this directly.

Will the review change how long it takes to settle an estate?

The review can lead to FCA expectations on firms’ service standards, including timeliness. Whether this translates into shorter end-to-end estate timescales depends on the speed of probate (which is a Probate Registry matter), the complexity of the estate, and the responsiveness of all the firms involved. Realistic expectation: tighter service standards at the firm level, modest improvement on overall estate timing.

How do I find out about the firm’s bereavement policy?

All major UK platforms and wealth managers publish a bereavement information guide on their website, typically under “Help” or “Customer support.” If you cannot find one, ask the firm to send it; under the Consumer Duty, this is the kind of information firms are expected to make readily available to customers in vulnerable circumstances.

Where to go from here

This article describes the FCA’s 13 May 2026 thematic review of consumer-investment-firm bereavement support. It is general information, not personal advice. If you are settling an estate and need professional help, consult a solicitor specialising in probate, a regulated trust and estate practitioner, or an FCA-authorised financial adviser.

Fact-checked: 25 May 2026 · Last reviewed: 18 May 2026

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