Complaints

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The SRA does not deal with complaints from members of the public about the service they receive from solicitors and/or law firms, although there are SRA requirements relating to complaints.

The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) is responsible for dealing with complaints about service made by individuals and small businesses or charities about legal service providers. LeO operates under its Scheme Rules.

Lexcel is the Law Society’s voluntary practice management standard. Lexcel includes requirements relating to your complaints handling procedure and analysis of complaints trends. The requirements of the Lexcel standard should be considered compulsory for firms that have or are working towards Lexcel accreditation; they are not compulsory for other firms although they provide an indicator of good practice.

The framework for managing complaints is therefore much broader than the requirements of the SRA.

Regulatory requirements

Regulatory requirements are set out in Practice Note: Complaints—law firms.

Regulatory requirements in relation to complaints cover five themes:

  1. •

    complaints handling procedure—see Practice Note: Handling complaints—law firms and Precedents:

    1. ◦

      Internal complaints handling procedure—law firms

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Data (Use and Access) Bill receives Royal Assent on 19 June 2025

The Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA) received Royal Assent and became an Act of Parliament on Thursday 19 June 2025. This followed its parliamentary review being finalised on 11 June 2025 and marked the culmination of nearly eight months of parliamentary procedure. Under section 139 of the DUA, most provisions will come into force as and when the Secretary of State appoints regulations. However, a limited number of provisions came into force upon Royal Assent. This included section 78, which relates to reasonable and proportionate searches for data subject access requests. It also included sections 126–128 on the retention of biometric data, and schedule 16 on the grant of energy smart meter communication licences.

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