The Office for Legal Complaints has once again highlighted the unprecedented demand for its services as it admitted falling well short of key performance targets.
In its annual report for 2025/26, the complaints-handler notes that in the year to 31 March it received 14,000 new complaints, a 37% increase on the previous year. It resolved 8,199 complaints, down from 8,270 the previous year - which it said was within the range set out in its business plan.aaaa
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However the annual report's scorecard for key performance indicators records several shortfalls. Only 27.8% of low-complexity compaints were resolved within 325 days, against a target of 80%. For high complexity claims, 63.6% were resolved in 500 days. This was an increase of 39.6 percentage points on the previous year, but a shortall on the target of 80%.
While the volume of cases awaiting assessment fell 16% from last year, it was still 838 over the target of 2,767. Residential conveyancing remains by far the largest source of discontent, accounting for 36.1% of complaints. Personal injury, and wills and probate are the next biggest categories, each accounting for 13.6%.
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