Service Complaints Process

If you are unhappy with the customer service you have received from us, here is how to complain.

Complaints about our customer service

We are committed to providing a high standard of customer service to all of our customers and aim to address any concerns about our customer service as promptly as possible. When you raise a concern, we will try to put things right and will learn from your experience to make improvements. If you wish to complain about the level of customer service you have received, let us know at any point whilst the lawyer complaint is open or within two months of it being closed.

Who can make a service complaint?

A complaint can be made by anyone in receipt of our customer service, including the service provider or a representative of either party.

What is a service complaint?

A service complaint is when you tell us that you are unhappy with the level of customer service we have provided to you. You can complain about things such as:

We have been rude to you.
We have not met your reasonable adjustment needs.
We have caused unnecessary delay and/or have not kept you regularly updated.
We have failed to respond to your calls/emails/letters.
We have not followed our own process and procedure.

What is not a service complaint?

There are some things we cannot consider as a complaint about our customer service. This includes any complaints that relate to our decision making on the lawyer complaint. For example:

If you are unhappy with the decision made on the lawyer complaint.
If you disagree with the evidence considered or the weight we have applied to it.
If you disagree with the complaints we have said we can deal with, or how we have worded those complaints.
If you are unhappy with a time limit set by an investigator or an ombudsman.
If you want the investigator changed.
If you believe our decision making has been biased.

These concerns will be addressed as part of our usual escalation of a lawyer complaint from an investigator to an ombudsman. Once an ombudsman has made a Final Decision, that can only be challenged under the recognised grounds for Judicial Review.

How do I make a service complaint?

If you have a concern about our customer service, please tell the person who is dealing with your lawyer complaint. They will be happy to assist and are likely be able to resolve your concern straight away, without the need to raise a formal complaint.

Complaints about our customer service must be raised at the time of the concern or within two months of the lawyer complaint closing.

Stage 0 - Line Manager review

If the staff member is unable to resolve your concern, you may ask for it to be escalated as a complaint to their line manager. The line manager will aim to reply to you within 10 working days.

Please note: if your lawyer complaint has closed, we may move your complaint straight to stage 1.

Stage 1 – Customer Experience Specialist review

If the line manager is unable to resolve your complaint, you can ask for it to be considered by one of our Customer Experience Specialists within our Service Complaints Team.

The Customer Experience Specialist will carry out an independent investigation into your concerns and provide you with a report setting out their findings.

Stage 2 – Senior Manager review

If the Customer Experience Specialist is unable to resolve your complaint, you can ask for it to be reviewed by a Senior Manager.

Stage 3 – Service Complaints Adjudicator review

If you are still unhappy after receiving a response from a Senior Manager, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by our Service Complaints Adjudicator. The Adjudicator is an independent party appointed by our Board.

This is the final stage of our service complaint process and there is no further right of appeal.

Please note: the Adjudicator will only usually review a service complaint once the lawyer complaint is closed.

How can we resolve your complaint?

If we uphold your complaint, we will offer you a remedy for the detriment caused. This may be:

An apology.
An explanation for why something went wrong and/or what we intend to do or fix it.
Financial compensation if a loss or significant emotional impact was caused.

We will also ensure that we learn from your experience. This can include staff feedback; training; increased supervision; or improvements to our external or internal guidance.

What we cannot do

We are unable to:

Change the outcome of your lawyer complaint.
Reallocate your lawyer complaint to a different investigator.
Change or extend the time limits set by our investigators or ombudsman.

How long will it take?

The time it takes us to complete a review at each stage in our service complaints process depends on the complexity of your concern, along with the demand for our service at any particular time. We will let you know how long it may take once your concern is raised at each stage.

What will happen with my lawyer complaint while my service complaint is being considered?

If your lawyer complaint is still open, it will continue whilst your service complaint is being considered. A service complaint being raised would not, ordinarily, delay the investigation of a lawyer complaint.

How do I contact the service complaints team?

Service complaints are managed by our Operation Support Team whose contact details are below. If you would like them to communicate with you in a particular way, please let them know.

Post:

Operational Support Team
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6168,
Slough,
SL1 0EL

Email:

service.complaints@legalombudsman.org.uk

Telephone:

0300 555 0333 (you can ask a member of our General Enquiries Team about the service complaints process).

We are committed to making sure the way we work doesn’t put you at a disadvantage so in addition to our legal duty to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled people, if you need any help or support, please tell us about it and we will do our best to meet your needs. We also understand that your circumstances might change, along with the support that you need, so please let us know at any time and we will consider your request. Please note that our calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.