Contract Tender for a Service Complaints Adjudicator

The Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales was set up by the OLC under the Legal Services Act 2007 to help resolve complaints between consumers and legal service providers. The Legal Ombudsman is independent and impartial. This means we will look at the facts in each case and weigh up both sides of the story. We are not consumer champions or part of the legal profession, and we are also independent of government. Our service is free to consumers, and costs are recovered from legal service providers.

Our work is also about feeding back to the profession. We share information to improve customer service and prevent complaints happening in the first place, and to support wider improvements in the legal services sector.

The OLC is the statutory body responsible for establishing and administering the Legal Ombudsman scheme. They are looking to appoint a Service Complaints Adjudicator (SCA) to provide an independent and impartial review of complaints about the Legal Ombudsman's own service at the third and final stage of the service complaints process. In doing so, they will consider if the Legal Ombudsman has provided a fair and reasonable service in line with its published customer service principles, guidance and processes.

They will also use their insight and expertise to support the Legal Ombudsman to learn from complaints and improve its service to its customers. They will be required to report twice yearly to the Board and provide an Annual Report which will be incorporated into the OLC and Chief Ombudsman Statutory Annual Report. More information is set out in the Contract Terms at Appendix A of the Invitation to Tender.

The contract will be for a one year period, commencing on 1 April 2021, with an option to extend up to a further two years. The proposed contract terms are set out as an Appendix to this tender.

Proposals should be submitted according to the guidelines and requirements included in the Invitation to Tender document attached to this proposal.