The Legal Ombudsman, an independent body which investigates complaints from consumers about their legal service providers in England and Wales, is introducing updated Scheme Rules, effective from 1 April 2023.
A key change relates to the timescale to refer complaints to the Legal Ombudsman – this is reducing to within one year from the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The requirement to refer complaints to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from the firm about a complaint will remain the same under the new Rules.
The Legal Ombudsman will have discretion to extend the timescale beyond one year where it considers it would be fair and reasonable to do so, however this will not be a given and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
For more information, please refer to our Complaints Policy & Procedure. To view the Rules in full, please see the Scheme Rules on the Legal Ombudsman’s website.
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