A blog by Phil Cain (Chief Ombudsman) and Ric Blakeway (Chair of the OLC)
The first half of 2026/27 has been a period of considerable change for the Legal Ombudsman.
Demand for its service has continued to rise sharply. At the same time, LeO has resolved more complaints, changed how work moves through the service, and laid the foundations for more fundamental reform.
This feels like an important point to take stock: to be open about where LeO stands, recognise the progress being made, and explain how we are approaching the challenges ahead.
In the first six months of the year, LeO received more than 8,700 complaints. Demand in the first quarter was 31% higher than in the equivalent period last year, rising to 43% higher in the second quarter.
LeO also resolved more complaints: 2,327 in the first quarter and 2,551 in the second, increases of 15% and 26% respectively, year-on-year. Almost two-thirds were concluded through Early Resolution – not requiring an in-depth investigation.
That progress matters. Resolving a complaint fairly and as early as possible can provide an answer sooner and avoid the time and cost of an in-depth investigation when one is not needed.
But while LeO is resolving more complaints, demand is growing faster than output. We anticipate receiving nearly 18,000 new complaints this year, and more than 21,000 in 2027/28. That compares to the current model’s maximum annual capacity of around 15,000 to 15,500 resolutions. That gap is not sustainable, which is why we must transform the service for the future.
The complaints reaching LeO continue to tell a familiar story. Poor communication and delay accounted for around 45% of the complaint types we accepted in both the first and second quarters. Around one in four consumers told us they had not received a final response from their provider before approaching LeO.
These are not abstract statistics. They represent opportunities to resolve problems earlier, before positions become entrenched and trust breaks down.
Our Model Complaints Resolution Procedure, published in July, provides a practical framework to help legal service providers handle complaints more consistently and effectively. We want to work with providers, professional bodies, regulators and consumer organisations to drive its adoption across the sector.
Better complaint handling is not simply about reducing the number of cases reaching LeO. It can improve consumers’ experiences, help providers rebuild trust when something goes wrong, and prevent an avoidable problem becoming a prolonged dispute.
We have started work on our Scheme Transformation Review – looking at how LeO’s operating model needs to change if it is to continue providing accessible, fair and effective redress in the future as demand grows. Deloitte is supporting that work, understanding the experience of those who use our service and exploring the practical opportunities for change.
Alongside this longer-term work, the OLC consulted over the summer on proposed changes to LeO’s Scheme Rules, case fees and the publication of final ombudsman decisions. Together, the proposals aim to encourage better first-tier complaint handling, resolve complaints at the earliest appropriate stage and rebalance how the scheme’s costs are distributed.
We remain committed to progressing these changes, subject to the required approvals. But we have listened carefully to what we heard in the consultation.
Responses sent a clear message about the importance of access to justice, openness and transparency. Respondents also emphasised the need to support vulnerable consumers who might otherwise struggle to access the scheme. That feedback will shape our approach as the proposals are developed and implemented.
One of the most visible changes over the coming months will be how we measure and report LeO’s caseload.
Following a review of how cases move through the service, we have changed how we organise and progress our casework. We are taking the opportunity to improve the comprehensiveness of our reporting too.
Historically, much of our external reporting focused on complaints that had been accepted for investigation but were not yet in active investigation. This was an important measure, particularly because it reflected the experience of consumers waiting to reach that point. But it did not provide a complete picture of all the work moving through LeO at any one time.
Our new framework will provide a fuller, end-to-end view, including open enquiries and complaints in General Enquiries and Early Resolution, work being prepared for investigation, active investigations and cases approaching conclusion. It will also show the substantial amount of work resolved before a full investigation is needed.
This will affect the headline numbers we report. Our latest forecast is that, by March 2027, LeO will be managing around 12,260 open cases across the whole service in total, of which approximately 9,612 will be awaiting progression at different stages.
Those figures cannot be compared directly with our previous forecast of 4,939 to 6,732 complaints waiting for investigation at the end of the year. The previous forecast measured a particular part of the customer journey. The new figure captures work across the service.
The new figures do not mean that LeO’s previously-reported investigation queue forecast has suddenly increased. The larger total principally reflects a more comprehensive view of work that was already within LeO but was not previously brought together in one end-to-end measure. Separately, as the figures above show, we are experiencing a genuine and significant increase in demand. Both things are true.
The fuller measure will help us see more clearly where complaints are waiting, where they are moving and where pressure is building. It will help us assess whether changes are improving the flow of work and give the OLC Board and our stakeholders a better basis on which to understand LeO’s performance.
Next week, we will consult on a new OLC and LeO Strategy for 2027 to 2030, and a 2027/28 Business Plan and Budget that will begin to put it into practice. The proposals will set out how we intend to respond to rising demand, improve the experience of consumers and providers, and make greater use of what complaints can teach us.
That last point is particularly important. LeO creates public value in two connected ways: by resolving individual complaints independently, impartially and fairly, and by using what those complaints tell us to help improve legal services more widely.
Neither LeO nor the OLC can achieve that alone. It will require continuing challenge and collaboration from consumers, legal service providers, professional bodies, regulators and others across the legal services system.
We are realistic about the scale of the challenge. But we are also confident about the direction: resolving complaints earlier where we can, redesigning the service for the future and making better use of LeO’s evidence and insight to help prevent problems arising in the first place.
Phil Cain (Chief Ombudsman) and Ric Blakeway (Chair of the OLC)
