Blind Justice research highlights recurring court administration failures across legal cases.
A legal charity has called for an independent audit of complaint-handling decisions at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), claiming a lack of transparency around thousands of reports closed before any formal investigation began.
In an open letter dated 17 May 2026, Blind Justice UK asked the SRA to commission and publish an external review of assessment-stage closure decisions. The charity also released a research briefing titled The Complaints Black Hole, which analyses the regulator’s published enforcement data and raises questions about accountability at the earliest stage of the complaints process.
According to the briefing, the SRA received 11,852 reports about solicitors during the 2023/24 regulatory year. Of those, 8,317 were closed before any investigation commenced. The report states that only 1,763 cases progressed to investigation and approximately 510 resulted in a regulatory finding, producing what Blind Justice UK describes as a net finding rate of around 4.3%.
The charity’s analysis also found that the proportion of reports referred for investigation fell from approximately 53% in 2017/18 to around 15% in 2023/24, despite overall report volumes remaining broadly similar during that period.
Blind Justice UK said the figures alone do not prove that the regulator closed complaints that should have been investigated. Instead, it argued that the main concern is the absence of publicly available information that would allow independent scrutiny of assessment-stage decisions.
The organisation said the SRA does not publish data showing the subject matter of complaints closed at assessment stage, closure reason codes, repeat complaints involving the same firms, or whether firms later subjected to regulatory action had previously been the subject of closed reports.
The briefing highlighted recent cases involving Axiom Ince, SSB Group and PM Law. Blind Justice UK said those matters collectively involved more than £300 million in known or suspected client-money shortfalls, firm debts and consumer exposure. It argued that the public cannot determine whether complaints concerning risks linked to those firms had previously been closed without investigation.
The charity has asked the SRA seven questions, including whether it tracks reports that were closed before firms later became subject to intervention, revocation, referrals to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal or Compensation Fund claims. It also questioned why complainants whose reports are closed at assessment stage have no independent review route.
Blind Justice UK said it intends to publish its research briefing and open letter on 3 June 2026. The documents have also been shared with the Legal Services Board and the Justice Select Committee.
In its recommendations, the charity called for a retrospective audit of assessment-stage closure decisions, greater publication of complaint data and the introduction of an independent review mechanism for complainants whose reports are not investigated.