# Friendly Societies Act 1992, Section 81: Complaints by members of friendly societies.

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) Nothing in section 80 above shall affect the power of a friendly society or registered branch—
(a) to establish internal procedures for the resolution of complaints; or
(b) to make, to join with any other persons in making, or to accede to, schemes for the investigation and settlement by an adjudicator of complaints;
but a society or branch may not prevent a member from referring any dispute to arbitration under that section by purporting to require instead the making of a complaint or the acceptance of any determination of a complaint.
(2) The FCA shall have the function of promoting the establishment by friendly societies and registered branches of—
(a) internal complaints procedures; and
(b) schemes for the investigation and settlement of complaints;
and, in particular, the FCA may issue such guidance on those matters to friendly societies and registered branches as it thinks fit.
(3) In this section—
“accede”, in relation to a scheme, means assume the obligations and rights of membership of the scheme;
“complaint” includes any complaint made by a member about action of a friendly society or branch which constitutes (in relation to that member) unfair treatment, maladministration or breach of any contractual or other duty and causes him pecuniary loss or inconvenience;
“member” in relation to a friendly society or branch includes any person who is or was a member of the society or branch or is claiming through a member or under the rules; and
“action” includes omissions.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/40/section/81 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/friendly-societies-act-1992/section-81
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.