New research commissioned by the Legal Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that consumers want clearer information about cost when purchasing legal services.

Better Information in the Legal Services Market, published today, used consumer trials to measure understanding and usefulness not only in areas such as ombudsman decision data, but also regulatory badges and regulatory protections.

The study highlights how the decision data from the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), is valued and used by consumers to guide their choice of provider, but that the sector itself needs to do much more to improve transparency on pricing and information about the quality of the service provider.

Wanda Goldwag, Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints, which oversees LeO’s work, said: “Price transparency is extremely important, and one of the five most complained-about areas we deal with.

 “While it is good to know that what we publish is useful to people, we support the research view that access to a wider range of information would be beneficial.”

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Notes to Editors:

1. The Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales was set up by the Office for Legal Complaints (our board) under the Legal Services Act 2007 and is an independent and impartial scheme to help resolve legal service disputes. When it receives complaints, it examines the facts in each case and weighs up both sides of the story. The Ombudsman is not a consumer champion or part of the legal profession, and is also independent of Government.
2. The new research will be published on the Legal Ombudsman homepage.
3.  Better Information in the Legal Services Market used consumer trials to measure understanding in areas such as ombudsman decision data, regulatory badges, and regulatory protections, while exploring the availability of this information and how it influences the consumer’s choice of legal service provider. In the decision data exercise, consumers were asked what additional information would have helped their decision making. Of those consumers, 28 per cent said information on the number of legal cases handled by each provider would be helpful, and 25 per cent said they would have liked information about the complaints which had been resolved by the service provider in the first instance.