LeO's new regime begins on February 1

Sweeping changes in the ability of clients to complain about their solicitors will come into force on 1 February 2013, the Legal Ombudsman has announced.

These include extending the time limit for complaints from one to six years and increasing maximum compensation awards from £30,000 to £50,000.

A spokesman for LeO said the organisation did not believe the changes would “substantially add” to the 75,000 to 80,000 enquiries it received every year, but would increase the number of eligible complaints by 10 per cent a year.

People who complain to LeO will no longer need to be clients. From 1 February, they will be joined by “prospective customers” who could reasonably have been expected to receive a service or who were unreasonably offered a service they did not want.

In its response to a consultation on the rule changes last year, LeO said this change was intended to cover two “important situations”.

The first was when a consumer was refused a service because of discrimination, the second was when consumers were “unreasonably and persistently” offered an unwanted service by a legal provider, for example where a firm continued to make unsolicited phone calls despite being asked to stop.

The legal ombudsman said this was particularly important as the arrivals of ABSs meant that the legal sector was “becoming increasingly commoditised and marketing techniques becoming more competitive”.

A further change, coming in on 1 April 2013, will be abolition of the two ‘free cases’ firms are allowed before paying LeO’s £400 case fee. Firms which handle the complaint reasonably will be eligible for a waiver.

Chief Legal Ombudsman, Adam Sampson (pictured), said: “At the heart of what we are proposing is a desire to future proof against changes in both the legal market and our jurisdiction.

“In particular, we want to reduce confusion among consumers by co-ordinating our scheme with other ombudsman schemes and ensure we can order firms to give the appropriate level of redress.

“We consulted heavily with legal professionals, regulators and consumer groups before making the revisions. I’m confident that they will stand us in good stead to remain an effective complaint handling body.”