Martin Lewis' money and mental health charity given enhanced 'super-complaint' powers to protect consumers
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI), founded and chaired by MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis, will see the remit of its 'super-complainant' status expanded, it's been announced today (Thursday 12 February). This will give the charity special powers to raise issues of consumer harms to financial regulators.
Currently, the charity has the power to raise super-complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – something it was awarded last year. But it will now be given the power to raise super-complaints to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), which oversee financial services and payment systems respectively. This will take effect in March.
This means the MMHPI will be able to raise complaints caused by market failures or behaviour by financial services firms, including current account providers, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, insurance companies and pension providers.
The MHHPI says it's only the fourth organisation to have super-complaint status for the FCA, PSR and CMA. The others are consumer group Which?, charity Citizens Advice and consumer body the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland.
Martin Lewis: 'This is another hugely important tool for us'
We're thrilled to now get this status with major financial regulators, just a year on from getting the same super-complainant powers for the UK's competition regulator. In simple terms it means that if we do detailed formal authoritative research on an issue of consumer harm the Financial Conduct Authority must respond and potentially consider a formal investigation. In other words it's an 'add or bump up specific issues on the list' power.
We will be starting to research where best to first use this to tackle the harms that people with serious mental health problems too often face in consumer markets; whether this is overcharged insurance or over-aggressive debt collection.
This status not only gives us formal powers to tackle harms, it's also a kitemark of the charity's research quality, showing the authority that the talented Money and Mental Health team bring to their work – and that should hopefully extend the soft power of our research.
I set up the charity because money problems and mental health issues are a marriage made in hell. They feed off each other. People who have mental health problems are over three times more likely to be in debt than the rest of the population. This new status is another hugely important tool for us to use to weaken the link between the two.
How the MMHPI's new powers will help it effect change
The MMHPI's goal is "to break the toxic link between money issues and mental health issues". Examples of its work include campaigning to end unfair council tax debt collection practices and pushing the Government to extend the 'breathing space' debt respite scheme to those in mental health crisis, among many other campaigns.
Its new status means the charity will have the power to escalate the case for action on specific consumer harms from each of the three regulators listed above. These regulators would then have to respond within 90 days. Subsequent steps could include the regulators taking enforcement action to stop consumer harms or recommending that the Government change legislation.
An example of a recent super-complaint is one submitted by Which? to the FCA in September 2025 amid concerns over "poor claims handling" and other "serious failings" in the home and travel insurance sectors.
The FCA responded in December 2025 by announcing that it would expand the "significant work" it had already planned to improve standards in the home and travel insurance markets.
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