First tier complaint Complaints should be dealt with in line with your complaints policy. You have up to eight weeks to resolve a complaint. After this, a complaint can come to the Legal Ombudsman. Read our guidance on resolving complaints. Read More
Signposting You must signpost people to the Legal Ombudsman in your final complaint response and tell them that they have six months to take the complaint further. Read our signposting guidance to find out what information you must share. Make sure you tell people about the six month time limit. If you don't they can bring a complaint after six months. Read More
When we receive a complaint When we receive a complaint we will carry out some initial jurisdiction checks and make sure that you have been given the chance to resolve the complaint at first tier. You will receive confirmation that we have received a complaint. You still have time to consider if there is anything else you can do to resolve the complaint. If you think the complaint is not in our jurisdiction, or one of the reasons set out in Scheme Rule 5.4 applies, please tell us so we can consider it as early as possible. How long? It is currently taking 6-9 weeks to carry out jurisdiction checks. Read More
Early resolution When we have all the information we need, the complaint will be reviewed by our specialist team to see if we can resolve it more quickly. If that is the case, a team member may contact you, and/or the complainant, to discuss early resolution options or explain why they believe the complaint should not be investigated. Sometimes it is not possible for us to investigate a complaint if, for example, the service provider being complained about has closed and there are no reasonable prospects of us resolving a complaint. Another example is when an offer has already been made to a complainant by a service provider which would be of higher or equal value to any remedy we could reasonably obtain for a complainant given the nature of their complaint. We may also be able to identify a remedy without the need for a lengthy investigation based on our expertise and experience and negotiate an agreement between you and the complainant. How long? Reviews to identify whether an early resolution is possible are taking 4-5 weeks. We will contact you to let you know whether an early resolution will take place or whether we will be taking the complaint forward for investigation. Read More
Accepting a complaint When an investigator is assigned to a complaint they will decide whether an investigation can begin. They will check: Is the complaint within our scheme rules (Chapter 5)? Should we investigate? Is there a reason for us to dismiss or discontinue a complaint (Scheme Rule 5.7)? They might contact you and the complainant to get a better understanding of the complaint before they make this decision. You can read our case studies to find out why we do not always investigate a complaint. The investigator will let you know if the complaint is accepted for investigation, or not, and what the next steps are. How long? It is currently taking 9-12 months for most cases to be accepted, and an investigation to begin. Sometimes more complex cases can take 18-24 months. Read More
Investigating the complaint Once we have accepted the complaint an investigation will begin. The investigator will contact the complainant to make sure they have understood the complaint. The investigator will confirm with you the complaints they are investigating. They will speak to you. Hearing both sides of the story helps us to see ways in which we might resolve the issue. They will ask for evidence from you and the complainant, and they will rely on this to form their opinion. How long? We complete most investigations in 3-6 months, but more complex complaints can take up to 12 months. We need you to: Send us the key evidence within 7-14 days. Follow our investigation process, which we will explain to you. Tell us if there are exceptional circumstances which mean you need additional time to respond or need us to communicate with you in a different way. Read More
Resolving it together The investigator will talk to you about their findings and try to reach an outcome that is acceptable to you and the complainant. We call this an agreed outcome. If we can’t reach an agreed outcome we will send you a case decision, and the evidence we’ve used. You and your complainant will have 14 days to provide comments, from which we will consider whether it is appropriate to be sent to an ombudsman. You can still accept the investigator’s view once you’ve read the case decision. Our guidance on determining complaints and putting things right may be helpful. Read More
Ombudsman decision 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 complainant show a possible error in fact or law, or provide additional new evidence. Where a final decision will be made: The ombudsman will review the complaint by looking at the available evidence and the case decision. If the complainant accept the ombudsman's decision you must follow the steps set out by the ombudsman. If the complainant does not accept the ombudsman's decision there are no more steps in our process. There is no further appeal stage. 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. Read More
Case fees Once the case has been resolved a decision will be made about whether the case fee can be waived. The Legal Services Act requires us to have a case fee and a test for waiving the fee. You can read the guidance on the test, and whether you meet it, in our Scheme Rules guidance (section 5) here. Read More
Publishing the complaint We publish the details of all the final decisions made by an ombudsman. This includes the name of the firm. The final decision will include the information which we intend to publish and when it will be available. Read More
Do you have rules about the complaints you can investigate? Yes. The Legal Services Act 2007 and our Scheme Rules set out very clear rules about the complaints we can and cannot accept. Our Complaint Checker takes you through these questions, but if you are unsure please contact us. We have rules about: Who we can accept complaints from: Members of the public who have a problem with their legal service provider Beneficiaries of an estate Charities and trusts A micro-enterprise Who we can accept complaints about: Regulated legal service providers Service providers will usually say on their website, or at the bottom of correspondence if they are regulated. If you are unsure contact us. The type of work they do We can look at the service they have provided. This often means problems about the way they communicated with you, the cost information you received, whether the work was done in a reasonable time, if they have followed your instructions, and if they responded to your complaint. When the problems happened: You are referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within either of the following: One year of the problem happening or one year from when you found out about it; and You are referring your complaint to us within six months of your service provider’s final response. Please read Frequently Asked Questions for the time limits used for complaints referred to the Legal Ombudsman before 1 April 2023. Tagged: Scheme Rules Complaint Checker FAQs
Do you act for complainants? No, we provide an impartial service to all our customers – both consumers and service providers alike. We don't take sides. We don't make any assumptions about who is right or wrong in any particular case. Our job is to the look at all the relevant facts in each case and, where we find there is a problem, to help everyone involved resolve things informally if at all possible.We provide information to many different organisations, such as the various regulators of the service providers and consumer groups. We aim to help service providers to improve their service levels and complaint handling, as well as making it easier for people to raise their complaints to their service provider. Tagged: Complaints Scheme Rules Consumer journey FAQs
