The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has published its 2025/26 Annual Overview of Complaints, revealing a significant rise in complaints and highlighting areas where legal service providers can improve the customer experience and reduce the risk of complaints escalating.
Key findings
Demand for LeO’s service increased significantly during 2025/26. LeO received 14,259 new complaints, a 37% increase on the previous year, and accepted 8,412 complaints, up 16%. Seven of the nine areas of law covered in the report saw an increase in accepted complaints.
Key findings include:
- Residential Conveyancing accounted for nearly three-quarters (73%) of the increase in accepted complaints, with 886 additional complaints compared with 2024/25.
- One in four consumers (25%) approached LeO before receiving a final response to their complaint from their service provider.
- 46% of investigative outcomes identified evidence of unreasonable complaint handling by the service provider. While this is a modest improvement on 2024/25, it remains a significant concern.
- The highest rates of unreasonable complaint handling were in:
- Immigration and Asylum (54%)
- Residential Conveyancing (53%)
- Wills and Probate (53%)
The same issues continue to drive complaints
Communication and delay remain the biggest drivers of complaints, accounting for 46% of all complaint types. LeO also reports that consumers often felt unclear about:
- what was happening with their matter
- why decisions were being made
- what they were being charged for
These findings underline the importance of setting clear expectations from the outset, providing regular updates, explaining advice and next steps in plain language, and addressing concerns before they escalate into complaints.
The report offers valuable insights for anyone looking to improve client service and complaint handling across nine areas of law.
