Who was sanctioned, and for what?

The FCA publicly censured the corporate finance firm Equity for Growth (Securities) Limited. The FCA found that between January 2018 and August 2019 the firm approved seven information memoranda for four unregulated minibond issuers as financial promotions. In the FCA's view, these documents omitted key information, such as the level and range of commissions, so investors could not properly assess the risk. Because the firm was wound up by the court in March 2026 on the FCA's petition, no fine was imposed; the FCA stated that it would otherwise have been £386,467 (including disgorgement).

Authority / court

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

COBS 4.2.1(1)R; section 205 FSMA 2000 (Public Censure)

Action

Reprimand or warning

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 2 · Direct link

Following a compliance assessment in May and June 2024, the operator of betfred.com will pay £900,000 in lieu of a financial penalty to the Consolidated Fund (the UK Government's general account) under a settlement and contribute to the Commission's investigation costs. The Commission found breaches of the remote customer interaction requirements under SRCP 3.4.3: automated processes to identify signs of harm and to act immediately on strong indicators were lacking, so that one customer lost a further £17,900 within 24 hours of a review without being contacted again. The Commission had already announced sanctions against Petfre in 2022 and 2025.

Authority / court

Gambling Commission

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

s. 116 Gambling Act 2005; SRCP 3.4.3 Abs. 1, 2, 4, 7 und 11 der Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Other

Repeat case

yes

Mitigating circumstances

A swift action plan with progress updates and full cooperation with the investigation.

Published

30 Jun 2026

Original amount 900,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 30 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The ticket exchange did not include mandatory fees in the total price at the start of the purchasing process. By way of a final infringement notice, the CMA imposed a penalty of 889,200 GBP (including a 40 % settlement discount) and required the company to refund the mandatory fees.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Media and online platforms

Mitigating circumstances

Settlement with a 40 % discount and waiver of appeal.

Published

23 Jun 2026

Original amount 889,200 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 23 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Using its new powers under the DMCCA 2024, the CMA found that the electrical retailer had pre-selected and charged customers on its website for paid extra services (removal of the old appliance, packaging disposal) without their express consent during the period examined, April to November 2025. It imposed a fine of GBP 720,000 (GBP 1,200,000 before a 40% settlement discount) and required the company to refund the amounts charged in this way to affected customers (around GBP 600,000 according to the CMA).

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Information duties in online retail

Legal basis

Regulation 40 Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013; Chapter 4 Part 3 Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Mitigating circumstances

40% discount for admission and settlement (including waiver of appeal); the practice was stopped on the day the investigation was opened.

Published

18 Jun 2026

Original amount 720,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 15 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Ofgem found that OVO Energy did not adequately monitor prepayment customers in vulnerable situations, did not properly support customers who self-disconnected and did not maintain the Priority Services Register properly; some internal training materials were unclear and contradictory. By way of alternative action, OVO is paying GBP 7m into the voluntary redress fund and providing GBP 3.4m in credit and debt relief to its most vulnerable customers; under a separate compliance engagement it is also paying GBP 1.1m to customers in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Authority / court

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Standard Licence Conditions 26.1, 26.4, 26.5(d)(f), 27A.1, 28.1A/28.1B, 28.2 und 28.4 der Gas- und Stromversorgungslizenzen

Action

Other

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Mitigating circumstances

Remedial action during the investigation, including welfare visits to customers who had been disconnected for more than 72 hours.

Published

3 Jun 2026

Original amount 10,400,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 3 Jun 2026.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

On a claim brought by the CMA, the High Court made a consent order in which the Emma companies accepted that they had used misleading countdown timers, inaccurate high-demand messages and misleading discount claims. They gave undertakings to the court that are enforceable and must put compliance measures in place with reporting to the CMA; the dispute over was/now reference pricing was tried separately, and in its judgment of 30 July 2026 the court found only the admitted infringements.

Authority / court

High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts (Klägerin: Competition and Markets Authority)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

section 217 Enterprise Act 2002 (Enforcement order wegen Schedule 13 Infringements)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Published

28 May 2026

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

For online bookings, the driving schools only showed a mandatory booking fee at checkout instead of in the initial price. Following an admission and settlement, the CMA imposed a penalty of 4.2 million GBP (40 % discount on 7 million GBP) and ordered refunds of more than 760,000 GBP to more than 80,000 customers. According to the annual accounts filed with the UK companies register for financial year 2026, the company had around 6,776 employees.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Other

Employees

1,000 to 9,999

Mitigating circumstances

Admission and early settlement (40 % discount).

Published

15 Apr 2026

Original amount 4,200,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 15 Apr 2026.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Direct link

The FCA directed the claims management company Conclusive Financial Limited, which also trades as “PCP Refunds”, with immediate effect to remove adverts for motor finance compensation claims and to refrain from similar adverts in future. The adverts used, without permission, edited video clips of the founder of a well-known consumer finance website as well as the FCA logo, presented the firm's authorised status as a mark of quality, cited an unsubstantiated average refund of 1,846 GBP and did not adequately explain the fees charged for its “No Win, No Fee” service.

Authority / court

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

s. 137S FSMA 2000; CMCOB 3.2.1R, 3.2.7R und 3.2.9R

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Published

14 Apr 2026

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Four online licensees trading as Paddy Power and Betfair (PPB Entertainment Limited, PPB Counterparty Services Limited, Betfair Casino Limited, TSE Malta LP) will pay a total of £2,000,000 in lieu of a financial penalty under a settlement and contribute to the Commission's investigation costs. An assessment in April and May 2024 found that their customer interaction systems identified signs of harm such as rapidly rising deposits or very long gambling sessions too late; one customer, for example, staked £86,000 within 16 days without a manual account review. The company had already been penalised in 2023 for marketing to vulnerable customers.

Authority / court

Gambling Commission

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

s. 116 Gambling Act 2005; SRCP 3.4.3 Abs. 1, 4, 7, 8 und 11 der Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Other

Repeat case

yes

Mitigating circumstances

Full cooperation, early acceptance of the failings and swift implementation of an action plan.

Published

17 Dec 2025

Original amount 2,000,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 17 Dec 2025.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Euro Car Parks left a formal CMA information notice served in July 2025 unanswered for around three months despite repeated attempts at contact, later saying it had blocked the authority's emails as suspected fraud. The CMA did not accept this as a reasonable excuse and, in its first penalty under the new DMCCA powers, imposed a fixed penalty of GBP 473,000; the company has appealed to the High Court, and no breach of consumer law has been found. The decision is not final.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Schedule 5 paragraph 16C(2) Consumer Rights Act 2015 (geändert durch den Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024)

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

under appeal

Sector

Transport, logistics and shipping

Published

13 Feb 2026

Original amount 473,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 10 Dec 2025.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The CMA objected that, during the Oasis presale, fans in the queue were not told that standing tickets were being sold at two price levels, and that "Platinum" tickets cost almost 2.5 times as much without it being adequately explained that they offered no added value compared with some standard tickets. Without admitting liability, Ticketmaster gave undertakings: advance notice of tiered pricing, price ranges in the queue, no misleading ticket descriptions and a two-year reporting obligation.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Britisches Verbraucherschutzrecht (Verfahren nach den vor April 2025 geltenden Befugnissen; Verpflichtungszusagen)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Media and online platforms

Employees

10,000 or more

Mitigating circumstances

Undertakings without admission of liability.

Published

25 Sep 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Ofgem found that the business electricity supplier lacked robust, documented processes – they relied on the knowledge of a single employee – and therefore collected direct debits from customers it was not, or no longer, supplying; 25 customers suffered a detriment of around GBP 175,000. Following a provisional order in May 2024, the authority confirmed a penalty of GBP 223,676, from which it deducted GBP 9,096 in goodwill payments already made, leaving GBP 214,580 to pay.

Authority / court

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) für die Gas and Electricity Markets Authority

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Standard Licence Condition 4A.1 der Stromversorgungslizenz; section 27A Electricity Act 1989

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

unknown

Sector

Energy and utilities

Employees

Under 50

Mitigating circumstances

Remedial action after the provisional order; goodwill payments of GBP 9,096 already made were credited.

Published

19 Jun 2025

Original amount 214,580 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 16 Jun 2025.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Following an investigation into fake reviews and "catalogue abuse" (transferring good reviews to other products), Amazon undertook to the CMA to detect and remove such reviews quickly, to sanction infringing sellers up to and including a ban on selling, and to set up simple reporting channels.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Fake reviews

Legal basis

Enterprise Act 2002, Part 8 (Verpflichtungszusagen nach altem Durchsetzungsregime)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Employees

10,000 or more

Mitigating circumstances

Voluntary undertakings without a fine.

Published

6 Jun 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Google undertook to the CMA to improve the detection and removal of fake reviews, to ban repeat offenders worldwide, to place warnings on business profiles with manipulated reviews and deactivate their review function, and to set up simple reporting channels; the CMA will monitor implementation for three years.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Fake reviews

Legal basis

Britisches Verbraucherschutzrecht (Verpflichtungszusagen)

Action

Order

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Media and online platforms

Employees

10,000 or more

Mitigating circumstances

Voluntary undertakings without a fine.

Published

24 Jan 2025

Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link

Because of a billing system error, former prepayment customers of E.ON Next did not receive final bills on time between February 2021 and September 2023; more than 248,000 customer accounts were affected, credit balances were not refunded and mandatory compensation was not paid. After self-reporting, the company paid GBP 14.5m in total (4.7m in credit refunds, 6.6m in compensation under the Guaranteed Standards of Performance and 3.2m in additional redress) and also wrote off the debts of almost 150,000 former customers.

Authority / court

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Standard Licence Condition 27.17 der Gas- und Stromversorgungslizenzen; Guaranteed Standards of Performance Regulations

Action

Other

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Mitigating circumstances

Self-reporting, commendable engagement in the compliance process and the company's past performance were taken into account in setting the redress; the billing systems were corrected.

Published

20 Nov 2024

Original amount 14,500,000 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 20 Nov 2024.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

Opus Energy self-reported that two faults in its billing system had led to overcharging on 87,825 business customer accounts between 2003 and 2023, for example through wrong tariffs or duplicated billing periods. Ofgem found breaches of the licence conditions on fair treatment, operational capability and billing based on meter readings; Opus is paying a package of GBP 7,077,077 in total, made up of GBP 3,914,531 in refunds, GBP 1,597,058 in inflation uplift, GBP 1,304,555 in goodwill payments and GBP 260,933 to the energy industry voluntary redress fund.

Authority / court

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

Standard Licence Conditions 0A, 4A und 21B der Gas- und Stromversorgungslizenzen

Action

Other

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Energy and utilities

Mitigating circumstances

Self-reporting, full cooperation and swift remediation; according to Ofgem the package would otherwise have been higher.

Published

13 Nov 2024

Original amount 7,077,077 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 13 Nov 2024.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The FCA fined the motor finance provider Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited £5,397,600. The FCA found that between January 2017 and July 2023 the company did not treat customers in financial difficulty fairly, did not adequately consider their individual circumstances and in some cases repossessed cars that customers relied on for work; complaints were also not properly identified. At least 109,589 customers suffered or were at risk of detriment. The fine includes a 30% discount.

Authority / court

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

FCA Principles 3, 6 und 7; CONC 7.2.1R, 7.3.4R, 7.3.9R, 7.3.14R(1); DISP 1.3.1R; section 206 FSMA 2000

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Original amount 5,397,600 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 21 Oct 2024.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 2 · Direct link

The FCA fined a UK retail bank £10,910,500. The FCA found that between June 2014 and March 2020 the bank treated some retail customers in arrears or financial difficulty on mortgages, loans, credit cards or overdrafts unfairly, including potentially vulnerable customers. 232,849 customers suffered or were at risk of loss; the company paid around £99.9 million in redress. This case is separate from the fine against the company over its 2018 IT migration. The fine includes a 30% discount.

Authority / court

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

FCA Principles 3 und 6; section 206 FSMA 2000

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Original amount 10,910,500 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 9 Oct 2024.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 3 · Company name anonymised since 9 Oct 2026 · Direct link

The FCA fined a Cypriot CFD provider £276,100. The FCA found that between January and April 2021 the firm's account managers pushed often inexperienced UK retail customers into trading risky leveraged contracts for difference and gave investment advice without permission to do so. According to the FCA, UK customers lost around £4.4 million in that period. The fine was significantly reduced because of proven serious financial hardship; £1,736,000 had originally been proposed.

Authority / court

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail

Legal basis

FCA Principle 6; section 20(1) FSMA 2000; section 206 FSMA 2000

Action

Fine

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Financial services and insurance

Original amount 276,100 GBP, converted at the ECB reference rate of 9 Aug 2024.

Checked against the official source on 28 Sep 2026 · Version 4 · Company name anonymised since 9 Aug 2026 · Direct link

Following CMA concerns about countdown timers, scarcity and popularity claims and sign-ups to a paid VIP membership via pre-ticked boxes, the platform's companies gave formal undertakings. They now use only accurate urgency and scarcity claims, no longer use pre-ticked boxes for VIP membership and are refunding the fees – according to the CMA, more than GBP 4m in total to more than 870,000 customers as credit with the option to convert to cash.

Authority / court

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

Area of law

Consumer protection and online retail · Misleading advertising and pricing

Legal basis

Part 8 Enterprise Act 2002 (Undertakings gegenüber der CMA); Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008; Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013

Action

Other

Status of proceedings

final

Sector

Retail and e-commerce

Published

19 Jul 2024

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Company name anonymised since 15 Jul 2026 · Direct link