The Legal Ombudsman is here to resolve complaints in a way that is fair and reasonable. We don’t take sides, or make assumptions about who might be right or wrong. We are not a law firm and are unable to provide any legal advice or opinion. We aim to resolve complaints quickly and simply. We will try to reach an agreement between you and the service provider about whether anything should be done to put things right. We also have formal powers to put things right. We accept your complaint for investigation if you agree that:
If you do not agree, or you do not act in accordance with these principles, we may close your case.
Throughout our investigation, we will look for opportunities to resolve your complaint by finding a solution that you and your service provider can agree to. We will listen to both parties, look at the facts and the evidence, and will then tell you our view. If we think the service was reasonable, we will explain why we think so. Or if we think there is something to put right and an agreement can’t be reached, then we have official powers to order what needs to be done. In some cases we may suggest a way of resolving the complaint which involves both sides in a bit of give and take. It can be quicker to sort out a problem if everyone agrees what the solution needs to be. But if you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to agree to anything.
If we think that the service provided wasn’t good enough, and something needs to be put right, we can instruct the service provider to do any of the following things:
Although we can tell the service provider to pay compensation of up to £50,000, most of the time it is under £500. Usually higher compensation is limited to those cases where we have seen evidence that the service provided has caused a direct financial loss. Any compensation will always be based on the individual circumstances of your complaint. For more information about how we decide what is fair and reasonable and how we decide how to put things right visit our Learning Resources page. More information about the compensation we’ve awarded can be found in our Data Centre.
As part of looking into the complaint you’ve raised with us, we will ask both you and your service provider to provide us with evidence, for example letters sent or bills received. We will weigh up the facts to reach a conclusion. We will give you and the service provider the opportunity to see the evidence we have relied on and hear why the investigator has come to their view. If at any point the investigator refers to something you have not seen, please let them know so they can share it with you.
It is really important that you send us the evidence we have asked for so that we can reach a fair conclusion on your complaint. If you do not send us something we have asked for we can reach a conclusion on the basis of what we do receive, draw inferences or, where necessary, dismiss your complaint. Please treat any evidence we share with you as confidential. Please do not pass it on to anyone who is not involved. We can stop the investigation and close your case if you pass on confidential information you have obtained during the investigation to someone who is not directly involved. This is due to the law we operate under, and is intended to help people have confidence in the process (and be sure that personal information is protected) while being able to resolve complaints as quickly and fairly as possible.
Our aim is to resolve complaints by agreement. If an agreement can’t be reached the investigator will set out their views in writing. This is called a case decision. If the investigator identifies service that has had a negative effect on you, they may suggest that something needs to be done to put things right.
We send the case decision to both you and the service provider for you to tell us what you think. When you respond, you should focus on letting us know:
If you don’t respond to the case decision within the timescale provided, or if you don’t tell us that you disagree with it, we’ll treat your complaint as resolved. We’ll close the case and take no further action. We don’t normally reopen cases other than in exceptional circumstances.
If you disagree with the investigator’s view, you and your service provider will have 14 days to provide comments, from which we will consider whether it is appropriate to be sent to an ombudsman.
An ombudsman may be asked to make a final decision where, for example an agreed outcome cannot be reached, the service provider is closed, or the comments received from you or your service provider show a possible error in fact or law, or provide additional new evidence.
If an ombudsman considers that a final decision is not required the case will be closed on the basis of the recommendation outlined in the case decision.
Please read Frequently Asked Questions for the process used for complaints referred to the Legal Ombudsman before 1 April 2023.
Once we’ve confirmed what your complaint is about, we will look at any information you have provided, and may ask you for some more. We aim to resolve complaints within three months, although it can be longer if the issue is more complex or if an ombudsman’s decision is needed.
We have done an initial review of your case and on the basis of this, we believe that your case is one we can and should investigate at this stage. However, there are times when we can still end an investigation, as set out below:
We generally try to speak to you on the telephone, as this is the best way to ensure we have a good understanding of your complaint and to tell you what will happen next. If this is not possible, we will use email and/or a letter. As each investigator will have several ongoing investigations, you can expect to be updated every few weeks.
If you need us to communicate with you in a different way because of your circumstances, please let us know as soon as possible.
Please tell the person dealing with your case as soon as possible if you are unhappy with the service we have provided. An example of this might be that we have not kept you informed or not explained things properly to you. They, or their manager, will try to put right anything we may have done wrong as quickly as possible. However, you cannot complain about the investigator’s view, case decision, or about any final decision that we may make. If we are unable to resolve your complaint about our service at this stage, the next step would be for your complaint to be investigated by our Customer Experience Specialist. Full details of our complaints policy can be found on our website.
Visit our Privacy page to find out how we use your personal data. We comply with data protection rules at all times. You can contact our dedicated team (infosec@legalombudsman.org.uk) for further information about this and any freedom of information requests. Please do not send us original documents unless we ask you to. If we do ask you to send us original documents, we will keep them safe and return them to you. In accordance with current data protection legislation we may collect and hold your personal information. For further details on how we will use your information, including processing your complaint file and entities we may share information with such as other regulators or research companies.
