Updated June 2026
The FCA has issued two significant updates since our last article on the motor finance legal challenges. Here is what has happened and what it means in practice for anyone with a claim.
No confirmed court date
In a letter to the Treasury Committee published on 9 June 2026, the FCA confirmed there is still no confirmed date for the legal challenges to be heard in court, and that hearings are unlikely before October 2026. The FCA's mid-November 2026 planning assumption remains in place, but it is a planning assumption rather than a fixed date, and the challenges remain live with no certainty on timing.
New guidance for lenders
On 11 June 2026, the FCA updated its guidance for firms, publishing a new document covering a number of aspects of the scheme and telling lenders to continue preparing while also planning for the alternative scenario of no scheme.
The contingency planning requirement is significant. The FCA has said it is important that all those involved now focus on contingency plans and prepare for the alternative scenario of no scheme, and that it has not yet made any decisions on what it would do under various scenarios. In practice this means lenders are now formally required to plan for two possible outcomes simultaneously.
When will money actually arrive?
This is the question most people want answered. Even if the Tribunal rules in November 2026 as the FCA is planning for, that is only the starting point. Under the scheme rules:
Lenders then have three months to assess existing complainants and tell them whether they are owed compensation and how much. They have six months to proactively contact customers who have not yet complained. Once a consumer receives and accepts an offer, payment must follow within one month.
Working through those timelines, the earliest that existing complainants are likely to receive money is approximately February to March 2027. For consumers who have not yet complained and need to be contacted proactively by their lender, the earliest is likely to be mid-2027. These are best-case figures assuming a November 2026 Tribunal decision in favour of the scheme. If the Tribunal decision is delayed into 2027, all of those dates move accordingly.
What this means for your claim
Nothing changes in terms of what you need to do. The FCA has confirmed there will be no further extension of the complaints pause, and lenders must now begin progressing complaints in the usual way. If you have registered a claim with us, your case remains active.
The updated timeline is a realistic one rather than a worst case. The scheme is still confirmed, the FCA is still defending it, and the majority of lenders are still preparing to implement it. The legal process is adding time, but the direction of travel has not changed.
We will write to you as soon as there is a confirmed court date or a material development that affects your case.