Our second year of ambition: bridging the gap to excellence 

Last year the Office for Legal Complaints set out a new three-year strategy for the Legal Ombudsman. That strategy provides a framework for the future of LeO – setting a clear ambition for the type of service we want to be delivering, and the impact we want to be having, by the end of March 2027.   

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.  

When comparing the current year, 2024/25, against 2019/20, there has been a near 27% increase in complaints that require early resolution or investigation (LeO’s core demand). In 2024/25, LeO expects this demand to be between 8% and 13% higher than in 2023/24. The biggest shift has been in demand for investigations – those cases which demand significantly higher levels of resource, and which make up LeO’s queue.   

In part, growing demand reflects greater awareness among consumers of their right to complain, and the accessibility of channels through which to do so. However, the marked feature of LeO’s data is that, over several years, standards of neither service nor complaints handling have improved in legal services – and in some areas, have worsened. 

LeO’s model is fundamentally sustainable; it can continue to meet high demand on an annual basis, even if demand increases further. It’s on track to deliver its 2024/25 commitments, increasing its forecasts for the number of complaints it will resolve this year. 44% of cases are now resolved within 90 days. In 2025/26, even with no further resource, it would resolve nearly 8,500 complaints. 

However, that doesn’t mean the current position is sustainable. People using legal services need to be able to rely on providers to deliver consistently high standards. And at current resourcing levels, in the context of high demand, LeO can’t reduce the number of people waiting for an in-depth investigation at the pace required to make the meaningful improvements to the experience of these customers.  

The imperative that LeO complete the remaining step of its transformation journey – bridging the gap between the current position and an excellent customer experience – underpins this 2025/26 budget and business plan.  

The OLC has carefully considered resourcing options going forward: in particular, the balance to be struck between investing in resource to reduce the queue of people waiting; to help the legal sector prevent demand and consumer detriment at source; and to ensure LeO is harnessing the power of technology to enhance its service and generate savings and efficiencies, both now and in the medium to long term.  

Approaching half the budget increase reflects an investment in investigator resource – nearly three quarters of which relates to reducing the queue and improving customers’ experience. LeO will reduce waiting times by 26% against 1% without investment, and end the year with a queue 30% lower than it would be without investment. 

As well as setting out the case for this investment, we’re also using this consultation to seek perspectives on wider developments with a significant bearing on our work, and the legal sector, in future. This includes setting out a viable path, alongside the likely costs and impacts, to moving toward greater transparency of our Ombudsman final decisions.   

We’re also proposing to increase the case fee – recognising its role in the sustainable funding of LeO going forward, through both offsetting the levy and incentivising better complaints handling through underlining the “polluter pays” principle. 

As always, we welcome feedback from the widest possible range of people and organisations with an interest in resolving and preventing legal complaints. We’ll continue to talk to stakeholders to help shape our plans and our budget, before we publish the final versions in spring 2025.