Legal Ombudsman

Are you a member of the Association of Costs Lawyers and want to learn more about client care letters and the Legal Ombudsman's perspective on estimates, deductions and informed consent? Members can now sign up to the ACL's free session being delivered in January by one of our senior ombudsmen, Simon Williams: https://lnkd.in/eq-UgEPP

High demand for LeO, and consistent findings of poor service and complaints handling, are clear indicators that consumers are being let down. Our business plan explains what’s driving demand, and our plans to help the legal sector improve: https://ow.ly/a2iP50TZjuu

If you're a legal provider handling complaints, our free technical advice desk can help you. Got questions about how to resolve a complaint fairly, or prevent it arising, why not get in touch? We can also answer questions about LeO’s role and approach: https://bit.ly/43x3i3m

Did you know that in 2023/24, LeO resolved 52% of cases through early resolution? Legal matters are often complex, which is reflected in the general complexity of the complaints LeO sees – but cases resolved early tend to be relatively less complex, and where the parties involved are open and flexible about sorting things out quickly.  These cases also include those where we can clearly see that people haven’t lost out, and/or where the service provider has already done enough to put things right. Read more about the complaints we received and resolved in our latest report:  https://ow.ly/M88j50UnhmR

📣This is the final week to have your say📣 “In the last few years, LeO has transformed its service. It has made a step-change in annual output, going from historic levels of around 6,500 complaints or fewer to nearly 8,000 a year – an almost 25% increase – on a sustained basis. At the same time, persistently high numbers of people who’ve relied on legal services at critical times in their lives are turning to LeO. From 2019/20 to 2022/23 the number of new customer complaints rose from approximately 6,400 to more than 9,400 – a 47% increase – with demand never returning to pre-pandemic levels.” Read more and respond to the 2025/26 budget and business plan for LeO at: https://lnkd.in/e9BgFZBu

📣There's just one week left to have your say📣 “In the last few years, LeO has transformed its service. It has made a step-change in annual output, going from historic levels of around 6,500 complaints or fewer to nearly 8,000 a year – an almost 25% increase – on a sustained basis. At the same time, persistently high numbers of people who’ve relied on legal services at critical times in their lives are turning to LeO. From 2019/20 to 2022/23 the number of new customer complaints rose from approximately 6,400 to more than 9,400 – a 47% increase – with demand never returning to pre-pandemic levels.” Read more and respond to the 2025/26 budget and business plan for LeO at: https://lnkd.in/e9BgFZBu

“It’s good news that we’re able to sort out half of all complaints through early resolution. If something’s gone wrong, and a lawyer has offered to put things right fairly, we can explain that to their client. If they haven’t, we can quickly help the two sides find a way forward. But the fact is many of these complaints could have been prevented or resolved without us. And where we need to investigate in more depth, our data doesn’t paint a positive picture. It’s also disappointing we’re not seeing change or improvement in the types of issues consumers are raising." Read LeO’s 2023/24 complaints data and insights at: https://ow.ly/rJqk50UmhS1

📢Today we’ve published our latest annual data and insight, sharing more information about the complaints we received and resolved in 2023/24. It shows that: - We took on 6,652 complaints from people unhappy with the service they’d received from a legal provider, and resolved 7,918 complaints. - A third of all the complaints we accepted related to residential conveyancing, with the next biggest areas being personal injury and wills and probate. - Overall, we found legal providers’ standard of service hadn’t been good enough in 69% of the cases we investigated. - Of all the complaints we upheld, one in four were about poor communication, and one in six were about legal providers’ delay and failure to progress legal matters. - We found that lawyers’ in-house complaints handling hadn’t been good enough in 46% of the complaints we investigated. We’re urging lawyers and their regulators to see complaints as opportunities to improve, highlighting the key elements of good service and complaints handling that apply across the profession. See the full report and data at: https://ow.ly/qUVT50UlAo4

Are you a legal provider trying to resolve a complaint? Our case studies highlight examples of our approach to investigating different issues, and the outcomes we reached and why. You can read them at: https://ow.ly/iaS650Uji60

In our 2025/26 business plan consultation, we’re proposing to increase the level of the case fee to £800. This will provide a more appropriate balance between the levy and case fee income, and support and incentivise efforts to improve legal providers’ tier-one complaints handling. Read more and have your say at: https://ow.ly/UUnw50TZjF2