Proposed reforms would increase case fees to £1,500 where complaints proceed to a final ombudsman decision
Legal service providers could face case fees of up to £1,500 if complaints progress to a final ombudsman decision, and may be charged even when complaints are ultimately dismissed, under reforms proposed by the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) to address rising demand for the Legal Ombudsman (LeO).
The OLC has launched a 12-week consultation on changes to LeO’s Scheme Rules, case-fee arrangements and publication policy, arguing that reforms are needed to improve complaint handling standards, reduce avoidable demand and ensure the long-term sustainability of the service.
Under the proposed fee structure, the current £400 case fee would be replaced by a graduated model. Providers would pay £200 for complaints resolved through early resolution, £750 for cases requiring investigation and £1,500 where a complaint proceeds to a final ombudsman decision.
The OLC said the revised approach is intended to encourage legal service providers to engage with complaints earlier and resolve them before they require more resource-intensive intervention by LeO.
The proposals would also mean that complaints resolved in a provider’s favour would not automatically escape a case fee. A fee would be waived only where LeO is satisfied that the provider took all reasonable steps to resolve the complaint through its own complaints process before it reached the ombudsman.
In addition, providers that fail to issue a final response to a complaint within eight weeks could face an extra £400 charge, regardless of the eventual outcome of the case. The consultation notes that the additional fee would not apply where LeO accepted the complaint before the eight-week period expired.
The OLC said the proposals had the potential to drive “significant cultural change” across the legal sector by strengthening incentives for firms to resolve complaints before they reach the ombudsman.
The reforms come as LeO experiences what the OLC described as unprecedented demand. Complaint volumes rose by 37% in 2025/26, driven by changing consumer expectations, greater awareness of routes to redress, weaknesses in first-tier complaint handling and wider societal developments, including the growing use of artificial intelligence tools.
Around 25% of complaints received by LeO in each of the past two years involved consumers who said they had not received a final response from their provider. According to the consultation, this equated to around 2,000 cases in 2024/25 and approximately 2,300 cases in 2025/26.
Ric Blakeway, chair of the OLC, said: “LeO’s experience shows that standards of complaint handling are not consistently meeting the level that customers of legal services should be able to expect.
“A single statistic points to the need for change: that one in four people who escalated their complaint to LeO in 2025/26 said they never received a final response from their provider. This is poor and preventable.”
The consultation also highlights evidence of poor first-tier complaint handling in 46% of complaints investigated by LeO.
Phil Cain, chief ombudsman and chief executive of LeO, said the proposals were intended to create stronger incentives for providers to resolve complaints themselves.
He said: “The proposals set out in this consultation seek to ensure that those providers who create the greatest demand for LeO through poor service and poor complaint handling contribute more towards the cost of the service, while those who handle complaints effectively contribute less.”
LeO resolved around 8,200 complaints in both 2024/25 and 2025/26. More than half were settled through early resolution, which costs the ombudsman around £500 per case, compared with approximately £2,000 for a full investigation.
The OLC estimates that the proposed fee regime would significantly increase LeO’s case-fee income. In 2024/25, the ombudsman generated around £940,000 in case-fee revenue, representing about 5% of its operating costs. Had the proposed structure been in place, fee income would have been nearly £3.5m, covering around 20% of costs.
The consultation stresses that case-fee income cannot be spent by LeO and can only be used to reduce the levy paid by the legal profession to fund the service.
Alongside the fee reforms, the OLC is proposing several changes to LeO’s Scheme Rules.
One proposal would allow LeO to reject complaints where the complainant cannot demonstrate any impact or detriment arising from the alleged service failure. The OLC said this would enable the ombudsman to focus on complaints where there is a real impact or detriment to remedy, make complaints easier to understand and investigate, and focus resources on cases where it can provide a meaningful remedy.
The consultation also proposes introducing a 12-year long-stop for complaints, measured from the date of the alleged service failing. According to the OLC, the measure would exclude historic complaints where it is unlikely that LeO could investigate them fairly because of the time that has elapsed, while still giving consumers a substantial opportunity to bring complaints and providing greater certainty for legal service providers.
Other proposed changes include requiring complainants to use LeO’s online complaint form unless exceptional circumstances prevent them from doing so, clarifying when an investigator’s findings can conclude a case without a formal ombudsman decision, and treating unacceptable behaviour by legal service providers towards LeO as a conduct issue capable of referral to regulators.
The OLC is also seeking views on a revised publication policy that would ultimately see all final ombudsman decisions considered for publication. While it remains committed to greater transparency and has worked to address some of the barriers to wider publication, the consultation says significant operational work remains necessary before full publication can be implemented safely and accurately.
The OLC said approving a revised publication policy would be the first step towards full publication of final decisions. However, publication of all final decisions is not expected before 2027/28.
The consultation rejects suggestions that consumers should pay a fee to access the ombudsman service. The OLC said charging complainants could create an unacceptable barrier to access to justice and would be inconsistent with a core principle of ombudsman schemes that they should be free to use.
Blakeway said: “This consultation seeks to encourage a shift in culture and ensure complaint handling across the sector consistently meets the standards consumers would expect.
“These proposals are also about ensuring LeO is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible, while reducing avoidable demand and strengthening accountability within the sector.”
The proposals form part of the OLC’s wider LeO 2030 transformation programme and would require approval from the Legal Services Board and, where applicable, the Lord Chancellor before taking effect.
The consultation closes at midday on 2 September 2026.