The Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO) has praised the work of her own department in her annual report, but criticised the performance of both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Complaints Service.

Zahida Manzoor (pictured) said her own department ‘has again performed to a very high standard’. She was not satisfied, however, with the Law Society’s regulatory and complaints-handling bodies, both of which had performed worse than last year.

In particular she noted that the number of cases she had required the SRA to reconsider had increased.

Colin Quinney, SRA director of regulation, said efforts to streamline systems and improve communications have led to a ‘significant fall’ in the number of issues upheld about poor service and administration. ‘While recommendations by the LSO to reconsider cases have increased, we were able to confirm that the right regulatory outcome had been reached in all but two of the cases reconsidered.’

LCS chief executive Deborah Evans said: ‘Only a tiny proportion – 6% – of our work goes to the ombudsman, and by their nature they are unsatisfied customers. A better reflection of our progress is our 2008/09 audit by the legal services complaints commissioner [an office also held by Manzoor], which commended the LCS for achieving quality targets for casework 95% of the time.’