Service Complaints Adjudicator

The Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales was set up by the OLC under the Legal Services Act 2007. The OLC is the statutory body responsible for establishing and administering the Legal Ombudsman scheme.

Our Scheme Rules are approved by the Legal Services Board and the Lord Chancellor as required by the Legal Services Act 2007. The rules set out the framework for how the Legal Ombudsman resolves complaints about legal services, and can be downloaded here.

The Service Complaints Adjudicator (SCA) role sits within our service complaints process. They provide a final opportunity for customers to escalate their unresolved concerns about our customer service to an independent person. The adjudicator will consider whether the Legal Ombudsman has appropriately addressed the concerns, and if appropriate to do so, they will make recommendations for improvement.

Appointed by the OLC Board, the adjudicator acts as a point of insight and assurance to the board and stakeholders. Reporting to the board twice a year, the adjudicator will also provide an annual report that is incorporated into the OLC and Chief Ombudsman Statutory Annual Report.

The number of service complaints that escalate to the SCA each year can vary, but it is usually between 15 to 20. This is often 1 or 2 cases per month, but the work can be more sporadic and there may be months with no referrals at all.

The time spent dealing with each case will vary depending on both the number of concerns raised and the complexity of those concerns. The SCA will be expected to read the Legal Ombudsman's final response to the complaint and the customer's representations in response. In making their decision and any recommendation, the SCA will also have full access to our guidance and policy documents; along with all records and call recordings relating to the customer's concerns. Allowing for reading and review; communication with our service complaints team or customer (if required); and writing their report, we would not expect an individual case to take more than 10 hours of the adjudicator's time. The average case time is expected to be 6 hours.

The contract will commence on 1 April 2025 for a two-year period initially, with the option to extend for 2 periods of 1 year a time (a 2 +1 +1 contract).

The current value of the contract is £20k pa. Your quote should include VAT and will be payable 1/4ly in arrears.

The ITT pack is added as an attachment or is available from procurement@legalombudsman.org.uk

Key Dates are: