Our customer service principles

image of woman on phone

 

The Legal Ombudsman is committed to delivering high quality customer service in a timely and flexible way that meets the needs of individuals and ensures a fair investigation and resolution of disputes.

Our customer service principles reflect our core values. They apply to our work with complainants and service providers, our work in the wider legal sector as well as how staff work together.

Find out more about each of our service principles by opening the boxes below.

Our values: Open, Fair, Independent, Effective

We will always be clear with you

Our Service Standards

We will...

  • Communicate using plain English so you can make appropriate, informed choices.
  • Discuss with you at the beginning what you can expect from the service we provide.
  • Explain the complaints process and keep you updated about what is happening throughout

You can expect us to...

  • Communicate in a way that can be understood, avoiding using jargon, providing clear and relevant information.
  • Listen carefully and ask questions to understand your complaint.
  • Be professional and knowledgeable.
  • Make sure everyone is clear about our process at every stage of the complaint.

We will be understanding and approachable

Our Service standards

We will...

  • Recognise each individual’s perspectives and experiences.
  • Take your individual needs into account.
  • Offer support in a variety of ways such as BrowseAloud, large print and languages other than English to help you access our service.

You can expect us to...

  • Be polite and treat you with respect.
  • Listen to you and take your views seriously.
  • Be empathetic and sensitive to your needs and support them.
  • Make reasonable adjustments for people who require them.
We will be impartial, thorough and base our work on facts

Our Service standard

We will...

  • Be clear about what information we need from you.
  • Listen to what you have to say and consider relevant information provided by both parties before any final decision is reached.
  • Reach our decision based on information and what is balanced, fair and reasonable.
  • Provide a clear explanation of our decision.

You can expect us to...

  • Ensure we are objective, non-judgemental and fair throughout the investigation.
  • Help you identify what information is needed, and be clear what can be used.
  • Be consistent in our approach.
  • Communicate our decisions clearly and concisely.
We will make good use of everyone's time

Our Service standards

We will...

  • Deal with your complaint efficiently and keep you informed about progress.
  • Help both parties resolve the complaint at the earliest opportunity.
  • Understand that some complaints can be complicated, we will be honest about what we can deliver.

You can expect us to:

  • Ensure we understand your needs and deal with your complaint promptly.
  • Keep you informed at all times throughout your involvement with us as to what to expect and when to expect it.
  • Let you know as soon as possible if we are unable to help you.
We will make a difference

Our Service standards

We will...

  • Be an independent voice and use our experience to inform debate within the legal and ombudsman sectors.
  • Help improve the complaint practices of service providers.
  • Identify the main causes of complaints and feed best practice information back to service providers.
  • Publish ombudsman decisions on our website, which will include information that is accurate, easy to find and understandable

You can expect us to...

  • Listen to, consider and learn from feedback we receive.
  • Engage with service providers to provide support based on our learning.
  • Provide information and learning to service providers by delivering external course.

 


The investigator was always honest, transparent, clear and kept me up to date. Although I disagreed with the ultimate outcome I fully understood his reasoning and how he reached his decision.
Understanding, informative, very, very helpful and also empathetic.
My investigator has been fantastic looking into my case for me. very professional and very prompt with everything. would recommend to anyone who needs help.