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OLC Annual Report and Accounts 2019 20 The Office for Legal Complaints Annual report and accounts For the year ending 31 March 2020 Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 118 of the Legal Services Act 2007. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 14 July 2020 HC 568 © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/official-documents. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] or Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ ISBN 978-1-5286-2019-2 CCS0320378892 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Contents Performance overview ................................................................... 1 PURPOSE OF THE PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 1 FOREWORDS BY CHAIR OF THE OFFICE FOR LEGAL COMPLAINTS ................................................ 1 HOW THE OLC HAS DISCHARGED ITS FUNCTIONS ............................................................................. 3 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY: CHIEF OMBUDSMAN’S AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT ............... 5 Performance analysis ..................................................................... 7 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs) ............................................................................................ 16 CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR CUSTOMERS ......................................................................................... 23 KEY RELATIONSHIPS ............................................................................................................................. 24 EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION .............................................................................................. 24 SOCIAL MATTERS ................................................................................................................................... 29 COUNTER-FRAUD, CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY ............................................................................... 26 ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS ................................................................................................................. 26 CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ........................................................................................................................ 26 PAYMENT OF CREDITORS .................................................................................................................... 27 FORMAT OF ACCOUNTS ........................................................................................................................ 27 Accountability report ..................................................................... 28 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REPORT ................................................................................................. 28 DIRECTORS’ REPORT ............................................................................................................................ 28 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTING OFFICER’S RESPONSIBILITY ............................................................ 29 GOVERNANCE STATEMENT .................................................................................................................. 31 REMUNERATION AND STAFF REPORT ................................................................................................ 42 PARLIAMENTARY ACCOUNTABILITY AND AUDIT REPORT (AUDITED) ............................................. 46 REGULARITY OF EXPENDITURE (AUDITED) ....................................................................................... 47 THE CERTIFICATE AND REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT ..................................................................................................................... 48 STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE NET EXPENDITURE .................................................................... 51 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION ................................................................................................ 52 STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS ............................................................................................................. 53 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN TAXPAYERS’ EQUITY ......................................................................... 54 Notes to the Office for Legal Complaints accounts ...................... 55 APPENDIX 1: ................................................................................................................................... 65 REGULATORY OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 65 APPENDIX 2: ................................................................................................................................... 66 SERVICE COMPLAINT ADJUDICATOR’S REPORT .............................................................................. 66 Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 Performance overview PURPOSE OF THE PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW This Performance Overview provides information on the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), its main objectives and strategies and the principal risks and issues that it faces. We aim to provide a fair, balanced and understandable analysis of our own performance. The overview section gives a short summary of relevant information about the organisation, its purpose, the key risks to the achievement of our objectives and how the business as a whole has performed during the year. More detailed information is then set out in the sections that follow. FOREWORDS BY CHAIR OF THE OFFICE FOR LEGAL COMPLAINTS 2019-20 marked the last year of my term as Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), which delivers the Legal Ombudsman scheme. It was during this past year that the changes in our process became business as usual, and some key areas of customer experience improved significantly, while others were identified for further development. We recognise that we have not achieved the overall performance we were striving for, and particularly that delays faced by some complainants and service providers have fallen short of the standard of service we want to offer. The challenges with our staff have also been greater than had been envisaged, due to the scale of change alongside performance demands. This has meant a tougher environment for recruiting and developing our people, and we still need to improve the resilience of our workforce. The full roll-out of the Quality and Feedback model has also given much greater oversight of work undertaken across the organisation and allowed us to raise quality standards internally too. We have also been able to improve the internal reporting, making it easier to understand how cases move through the process, and how the Legal Ombudsman is performing as a business. This has allowed the organisation to take more strategic decisions for the future about where to allocate resources. These past three years have been a real challenge for the organisation, but one I believe has been met with great determination. It is because of the tenacity and work ethic of the staff that I feel confident the organisation will continue to move forward under the stewardship of the newly appointed Chair of the OLC, Elisabeth Davies. I want to thank my colleagues on the OLC Board, the staff and our stakeholders as I move on from the organisation and wish them all every success in the future. Wanda Goldwag, Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints, March 2020 1 Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 This is my first Annual Report and Accounts since my appointment as Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints in April 2020. As the incoming Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints I could not be joining at a more unsettling or uncertain time and I am acutely aware of this. Like all organisations, the Legal Ombudsman is adjusting as it seeks to understand what Covid-19 means in the short and longer term. This is about the impact on what staff can deliver alongside the ability of the legal services sector to handle complaints. In addition, I have joined when there are a number of high profile and difficult issues facing the Legal Ombudsman. I am confident I have a Board with a clear focus on the right areas and thanks to Wanda’s oversight, and the work of Rebecca Marsh and her team, there has been some good progress made on removing legacy cases and waiting times for decisions, and in year reductions in the pre-assessment pool and the length of time people wait to access our service. Nonetheless the Legal Ombudsman is not yet where it needs to be and that position is set out in this Annual Report. The OLC will need to continue to be open and transparent about the issues currently facing the Legal Ombudsman in order to rebuild the confidence of service users and the wider sector. This will be all the more important as we oversee the appointment of a new Chief Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer, when Rebecca moves to become the new Property Ombudsman in the autumn. In addition to working closely with the sector and those who use the services, the Board’s focus this year will be on seeking assurance
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