The insurance industry has chosen to regulate itself. The General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) is a relatively new body which is starting to take charge of regulating insurance companies in the UK.
When making a complaint, your initial contact should be your insurance company, this should be done in the form of a letter. If for example you have not received the amount you expected in a claim, then write down all the reasons why you believe you have been underpaid and provide any evidence to back this up. You should also make a copy of all your correspondence that you send.
If you still don’t get anywhere and decide you want to take the issue further you should find out what the companies complaints procedure and follow this. This will either be in the form of an ombudsman scheme or an arbitration scheme. The difference is that you and the insurer have to commit to the decision of an arbitrator, however only the insurer has to accept the decision made by the ombudsman. If you don’t think the ombudsman decision is right, you have the option to go to court.
You should not take out a policy, unless you are sure the company that is a member of the GISC.