The Legal Services Act 2007 (Legal Complaints) (Parties) Order 2012

Part 6 of the Legal Services Act (c. 29) (“the 2007 Act”) establishes the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) and confers a duty on the OLC to administer an ombudsman scheme for the resolution of complaints relating to the activities of authorised persons (as defined by the 2007 Act). A person is a complainant for purposes of the scheme if that person meets the conditions in section 128(3) and (4) (and is not excluded by subsection (5)). Subsection (4) sets out a list of conditions relating to the services to which a complaint relates. These include such conditions as are prescribed by the Lord Chancellor (subsection (4)(d)). This Order prescribes as conditions that the services to which the complaint relates were offered or refused by the respondent to the complainant. As a result, a person may complain to the ombudsman about services that person has been wrongfully refused, for example, or unwanted services which that person has been offered.