The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) has today published its 2026-27 Business Plan & Budget for the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), setting out an approach to transform the Scheme in the context of unprecedented numbers of people seeking its help.
Demand for LeO’s service is rising at pace. Following an almost 30% year‑on‑year rise in 2025-26, LeO forecasts receiving 17,675 new complaints in 2026-27 - a 174% increase since 2019-20. This level of demand is outstripping the significant improvements LeO has made to how it delivers its service and cannot be sustained within the current operating model.
In response, the Business Plan sets out an ambitious programme of reform, including a continued focus on improving the efficiency of LeO’s operations, exploring immediate changes LeO can make to help reduce demand for its services, and undertaking a comprehensive, externally-led review to deliver longer‑term service transformation.
The plans for 2026-27 also place a strong emphasis on preventing complaints from arising in the first place and reducing unnecessary escalation. LeO will continue to build on its learning and insight programmes, with key commitments including the rollout of its Model Complaints Resolution Procedure, increased sharing of insight and data, and ongoing targeted learning and support for service providers, all aimed at strengthening first‑tier complaint handling across the sector.
Budget for 2026/27
To support the increase in demand and longer-term plans for transformation, the OLC Board sought a budget of £22.2 million for LeO in 2026-27 – an increase of 11.1% on 2025-26. The Legal Services Board (LSB) instead approved an alternative budget of £21.3 million, representing a 6.5% increase. Whilst this will not enable LeO to invest in its operational capacity as originally intended, LeO will do everything it can within the agreed budget to minimise the likely impact of rising demand on its customer wait times and backlogs.
Critically, the LSB recognised the urgent need for LeO to transform its operating model, and separately approved additional funding to support the Scheme Transformation Review. The first tranche of this funding will support the initial discovery phase of the transformation plans in 2026-27. This important funding represents a significant opportunity to design a future LeO that is digitally enabled, more agile, and better able to respond to changing consumer and sector needs over the longer term.
Ric Blakeway, Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints, said:
“Ombudsman services make a massive difference to lives every day. And their impact can go far wider than individual cases. The Business Plan reflects a challenging operating environment, shaped by a sustained and unprecedented rise in demand, but it also marks a clear and important moment for the Legal Ombudsman.
“The OLC Board welcomes the LSB’s recognition of the need for LeO to transform, and its decision to approve additional funding to support that vital work, subject to approval from the Ministry of Justice. This provides a strong platform to drive meaningful change and will be central to building a modern, agile organisation that is better equipped to respond to rising demand and deliver a more sustainable service for consumers and the sector over the long term. Crucially, this also means a step-change in the way legal providers handle complaints themselves."
Phil Cain, Chief Ombudsman, said:
“Rising demand means LeO faces acute short-term pressures. We will do everything we can within the agreed budget for the coming year to drive efficiencies and continued improvement, to provide the best possible service to consumers needing our help.
“We will also explore immediate policy changes we can make to reduce demand, and continue to share our insight and knowledge. But it is clear that LeO must change and transform. The funding approved for the Scheme Transformation Review gives us the ability to step back and design a scheme that is properly equipped for the future.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to build a more responsive, efficient and resilient Legal Ombudsman that can meet rising demand sustainably in the years ahead. We look forward to working with regulators, legal services providers and all our stakeholders in building LeO 2030.”
Notes to editors
· The Legal Services Act 2007 established the Legal Ombudsman scheme and the OLC to administer it. The Act also established the LSB) to oversee the regulation of the legal profession in England and Wales. LeO’s work supports and aligns with the regulatory objectives.
· LeO has two core roles. It resolves complaints about providers of legal services that haven’t been resolved to customers’ satisfaction – as quickly and informally as possible. The second vital part of LeO’s work is sharing learning and insight from the complaints it sees.
· The OLC is now in the third and final year of its 2024-27 strategy. The 2026-27 Business Plan and Budget for LeO runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
· In 2026-27 LeO will undertake a comprehensive and externally led Scheme Transformation Review (STR) to deliver longer-term transformation and a service that has the agility to deal with its new demand environment. The LSB has approved funding of £300,000 in 2026-27 for LeO to conduct the Discovery phase of the STR, and conditionally approved a further £679,121 to undertake the Design phase.
