A confident legal ombudsman has predicted that the backlog of unopened cases could be fewer than 700 within 18 months as the office continues to improve performance.
In its draft strategy and business plan for the next financial year, the Office for Legal Complaints said it expects to resolve 9,239 complaints in 2023/24. To date this year, complaint closures stand at 4,694, which is 55% more than in the same period in 2021/22.
Further improvements will be enabled through scheme rules due to come into force in April 2023 placing restrictions on the time for making complaints, and funded through increasing the ombudsman’s annual budget by 9.6% to £16.8m. Solicitors will pay an extra £7.20 each through their individual levy contribution next year.
Chief ombudsman Paul McFadden said: ‘By the end of March 2024, LeO’s front-end queue will have been drastically reduced. It is now a question of when, and not if, that queue is removed: something that for many seemed out of reach not so long ago.’
The buoyant outlook is in stark contrast to the position as recently as last year when the service was given its last orders to improve amid widespread concerns about performance and staff turnover.
At its peak in April this year, the backlog of cases waiting to be opened was almost 6,000, but this figure is now down to 4,794 and is on track to fall to 3,438 by March 2023. That queue is expected to come down to 655 by the end of March 2024.
Such a drop, the ombudsman says, will result in an average 90-day turnaround for most cases once accepted. As at September 2022 there has been a 72% decrease in the time for resolving low complexity complaints resolved by the front-end team. For all low-complexity complaints, the process took on average 289 days.
‘LeO will become even more efficient and proportionate,’ added McFadden. ‘With early resolution continuing to bring down waiting times, changes to our scheme rules will ensure we can truly take the right approach at the right time for users and providers of legal services.’
The ombudsman said that like all organisations, the office faces significant unavoidable costs increases. It also recognised the ‘very real risk of losing skilled people’ if it did not take into account the rising cost of living. The proposed budget increase takes account of inflation at 10% and a pay increase of 8%.
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