Complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) made up 63% of the total complaints received by the ombudsman during the first half of 2012; with 85,562 new PPI complaints compared to 49,419 in the last half of 2011.

Five banking groups accounted for 71% of all new PPI cases received between 1 January and 30 June 2012.

Across all businesses the uphold rate for PPI complaints ranged from 5% to 98%.

Natalie Ceeney, chief executive and chief ombudsman, said: “We’ve also seen an increasing shift towards consumers doing it themselves rather than using a claims manager – with up to half of all new complaints now coming directly from consumers without paid-for representation, compared to less than 20% a year ago.

“This means our consumer front-line is busier than ever – taking over 3,000 calls on PPI a day and bringing much needed clarity to confused and bewildered consumers.”

The FOS’ latest set of six-monthly complaints data related to individual financial businesses including banks, insurance companies and investment firms.

The data published covers consumer complaints handled by the ombudsman service between 1 January and 30 June 2012.

The data includes both the number of complaints received about individual businesses and the percentage of complaints the ombudsman service upheld in favour of consumers.