OLSO Service Standards

Our Commitment to You

The Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman is an efficient and effective organisation, which aims to provide an excellent service to all of its customers. We recognise, respect and value diversity, and will strive to serve the interests of people from all sections of society.

Our Service Standards

We aim to:

  • Answer all calls within 15 seconds. However, if all of our staff are busy and your call is in a queue, it will be answered by a recorded message within 30 seconds and diverted to a member of staff as soon as one becomes available.

  • Respond to all correspondence within 10 working days. If a response cannot be provided in full within 10 working days we will send you an acknowledgement containing a date by which we intend to provide a full response, or a date by which we will contact you with an update on progress.

  • Advise you within 10 working days of receiving the professional body’s file whether we can accept your case for investigations. If we cannot accept your case we will give you clear reasons why.

  • Complete 90% of our investigations within an average of 4 months of the receipt of the professional body’s file.

Continual Improvement

You may receive a customer satisfaction survey form approximately one month after you have received the Ombudsman’s decision regarding your complaint. Completion of the survey is voluntary. Your response will help us to improve our standards of service and will not be used for any other purpose.

Meeting Your Needs

We will endeavour to meet any special needs you may have when dealing with the Office. When you contact the Office our staff will treat you with courtesy and respect, and in return we expect that you will treat our staff in a similar manner.

How can I complain about the service provided by the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman?

If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the service that we provide – for example, we failed to reply to your correspondence, or we did not answer your telephone calls - you should write to our Corporate Services Manager. She will investigate your complaint, and aim to let you have a response within ten days. The Corporate Services Manager has no authority to review decisions taken by the Ombudsman. If wish to comment on the Ombudsman’s report, you should address your concerns to the Ombudsman in writing.