The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has published enhanced guidance on remedies that sets out five questions to assess whether a remedy is appropriate.
The updated guidance is aimed at supporting service providers to identify and apply appropriate resolutions at an earlier stage and has been issued in response to findings from the 2024/2025 financial year.
Many of the complaints identified in 2024/25 – which resulted in the LeO awarding over £3.7 million in remedies – could have been resolved more effectively at first tier, the Ombudsman said. Compensation for emotional effects featured in over 85% of the complaints where service failings were identified.
The guidance aims to help service providers to:
- Resolve more complaints at tier one
- Adopt a fair and consistent process for evaluating and offering remedies
- Come to a remedy figure and reassure clients of the fairness of that figure
- Communicate the reasoning behind remedies clearly when offering them at tier one,
- Use resources that would otherwise spent on escalated complaints elsewhere in casework.
When determining whether a remedy is appropriate, the LeO will consider:
- Whether the service was of a reasonable standard
- If it wasn’t, whether there was any detriment to the person complaining
- If there has, whether the detriment was caused by the failings
- If it was, whether a remedy is appropriate
- And if so, what sort of remedy best addresses the detriment.
A remedy won’t be directed if the LeO finds the service to be reasonable overall, if the failing didn’t cause an effect significant enough to justify a remedy, if the effect hasn’t been found to cause the failing, or a conclusion can’t be reached on what a fair and reasonable remedy should be.
The guidance notes:
“Any remedy we direct will always be designed to address the impact of what has gone wrong. We will look at the negative effects of any failings on the person complaining and it’ll be those effects that lead us to consider an appropriate remedy.”
Remedies fall into four categories: compensation for financial loss, reduction or refund of costs, non-financial remedies, and compensation for emotional effects.
A Spotlight Insight article has been shared to accompany the guidance, which includes further details and case studies with examples ‘to help service providers refine their approach’.
LeO commented:
“These resources reflect LeO’s ongoing commitment to share more of its insight and support the sector to make improvements which ensure clients receive fair, timely, and transparent resolutions.”
The full guidance can be found at https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/for-legal-service-providers/learning-resources/good-complaints-handling/guidance-on-remedies/
