On this page we publish details of consultations run by the Office for Legal Complaints, as well as responses we've made to other organisations' consultations. These include the OLC's annual consultations on a business plan and budget for the Legal Ombudsman, and consultations on aspects of LeO's work, such as its Scheme Rules and the information it publishes. 

You can keep up to date with our news here, and you can subscribe to LeO news from any of our website pages. To do this, click on 'Subscribe to LeO news' in the bottom right corner of this page, provide your email address and click submit. 

Open consultations

Business Plan and Budget 2025/26

The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is currently consulting on its 2025/26 Business Plan and Budget for the Legal Ombudsman. 2025/26 is the second year of the OLC’s 2024-27 strategy, which sets clear ambitions for the service LeO will deliver and the impact it will have by the end of March 2027. 

The consultation is set against the backdrop of high demand for LeO from consumers of legal services, at a time when LeO has significantly increased the number of complaints it resolves each year.

The draft business plan and budget and details on how to respond can be found here.

You can also read the strategy here.

Our responses to consultations

Recent consultations

OLC Strategy 2024-27 and Business Plan and Budget 2024/25

27 October - 22 December

Read: OLC Strategy 2024-27 

Read: Business Plan and Budget 2024-25

Business Plan, Budget and Interim Strategy 2023/24

2 November - 14 December 2022

Read: 2023/24 Budget and Business Plan (November 2022)

Consultation: Scheme Rules Review 2022

16 February - 13 April 2022

Read: Scheme rules review

Read: responses

Consultation: Business Plan and Budget 2022/23

5 November - 13 December 2021

Read: Business Plan and Budget consultation

Read: responses 

Consultation: Business Plan and Budget 2021/22

4 November 2020 - 15 January 2021

Read: Business Plan and Budget consultation

Consultation: Strategy and Business Plan 2020-23

16 December 2019 – 14 February 2020

Read: Strategy, Business Plan and Budget consultation

Read: responses

Discussion paper: Transparency and Reporting Impact

1 October 2019 - 31 January 2020

Read: Transparency and Reporting Impact Response paper (September 2020)

Read: Transparency and Reporting Impact Discussion paper (October 2019)

Read: responses

Archived consultations: Strategies

Strategy and Budget 2017-20

Read: Strategy and Business plan consultation

Read: Final Strategy and Business plan

Strategy and Budget 2015-17 and business priorities 2015-16, closed 23 February 2015

Last year we published our strategy for 2014-17. Having reviewed the external context and our progress over the past year we believe it is sensible to reframe years two and three of our strategy.

Read: Strategy and Budget consultation

Read: Final Strategy, Business plan and Budget

Strategy and Budget consultation 2014-17

Read: Strategy and Budget consultation

Read: Final Strategy, Business plan and Budget

Strategy 2013-16 and Business Plan 2013-14

Read: Strategy and Business Plan consultation

Strategy and Budget 2012-15 and Business Plan 2012-13 consultation

Read: Strategy and Business Plan consultation

Read: Final Strategy and Business Plan

Strategy and Budget consultation 2011-14

Read: Strategy 2011-14 (Business Plan 2011/12)

Archived consultations: Business Plan and Budgets

Business Plan and Budget 2019/20, closed 25 January 2019

This marks the final year of our 2017-20 strategy

Read: Business Plan and Budget consultation

Read: Final Business Plan and Budget

Business Plan and Budget 2018/19

Read: Business Plan and Budget consultation

Read: Final Business Plan and Budget

Business Plan 2016/17, 4 April 2016 (1 Feb - Budget)

In March 2016 we consulted on the implementation of the final year of our 2014-17 strategy.

Read: Business Plan consultation

Read: Budget consultation

Read: Final Business priorities

Archived consultations: Scheme Rules

Technical changes, 2 to 30 January 2019 

Consultation on changes to remove reference to the claims management companies, in light of the transfer of CMC regulation to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2019. No responses were received, therefore an updated version was submitted to the Legal Services Board (LSB) for approval as required by Section 155 of the Legal Services Act.

Read: Scheme Rules: technical changes for CMC transfer

Minor changes, 2 February - 2 March 2018

In February 2018, the Legal Ombudsman published minor linguistic changes to its Scheme Rules for a period of representations in compliance with Section 205 of the Legal Services Act 2007. These changes were made in line with recommendations from the Language of Complaints research, published in November 2017.

Read: Scheme Rules: minor language changes

ADR Scheme Rules proposals, September  - November 2015

The Legal Ombudsman consultation considered options for amending the Scheme Rules to incorporate the requirements for becoming an EU ADR provider.

Read: ADR scheme rules consultation

Read: Proposed scheme rules

Review of Scheme Rules, March - June 2012

When we opened we made a commitment to review the rules within 18 months.

Read: Review of scheme rules and case fee structure

Read: responses

Developing our Scheme Rules, July 2009 - April 2010

We asked for help when we were shaping our rules. We wanted to know what they should look like to support a new Ombudsman scheme that resolves complaints impartially, quickly and fairly.

Read: Discussion paper and draft Scheme Rules (July 2009)

Read: Consultation paper and draft Scheme Rules (September 2009)

Read: Our response to consultation and proposed Scheme Rules (April 2010)

Setting a fair case fee, October 2009

By law, we must set a case fee for lawyers who use the Ombudsman scheme. We wanted help in developing a structure for this that supported the role of the Legal Ombudsman as an independent and impartial body.

Read: Setting a fair case fee 2009

Read: Our response to the consultation (March 2010)

Archived consultations: Other

Publishing Decisions

In 2010 we carried out extensive consultation with the sector regarding publishing the names of service providers and the decisions in cases. 

Read: Discussion paper

Read: Response to the consultation