Legal Ombudsman backlog and delays - FOI response, FYI

[dazed]

Not that anyone can do anything about this, but there are some SERIOUS delays at the LO...


I wrote this to them last month...

It is now 585 days or 1 year, 7 months and 6 days since complaint first logged on 21st March 2021 and 502 days or 1 year, 4 months and 15 days since the complaint was first accepted and assigned on 15th June 2021.

Looking at the date of the responses, and the dates you said you were currently processing:

15 Jun 2021 = April 2020
21 Sep 2021 = May 2020
20 Dec 2021 = June 2020
21 Mar 2022 = July 2020
20 Jun 2022 = September 2020

I have not had the expected email in September 2022 updating me.

Can I check that this means that the rate you are progressing of 3 months to clear 1 month of backlog means that my complaint may not be addressed for about 2+ more years, meaning that my serious complaint about the way a solicitor mis-handled a child protection issue in family court won't be addressed until roughly 2025?

In which case, can I please file a complaint, and make this letter both a personal Subject Access Request for all my own data regarding the way this has been handled, as well as an FOI request for the exact figures regarding the backlog and average processing times for complaints, so I can bring this matter to the attention of my MP or MS and the Family Court as appropriate.

Their reply:

Further to your request for information concerning the number of complaints in the backlog queue and the average complaints processing times, please see the information below. Please note the wait times are illustrated in days.

Number of cases that are waiting to be assigned an investigator - 4616
Current average wait time for all case complexities - 218
Average wait time for low complexity cases – 179
Average wait time for medium complexities - 325
Average wait time for high complexity cases 280

Number of cases that are with an investigator - 1723
Current average wait time in this stage is - 132
Average investigation time for low complexity cases - 131
Average investigation time for medium complexities cases - 129
Average investigation time for high complexity cases - 302

Combined customer journey time end to end
Overall average customer journey time is - 281
Overall average customer journey for low complexity cases - 427
Overall average customer journey for medium complexities - 624
Overall average customer journey for high complexity cases - 938

Wow - 4616 cases waiting to be assigned! Something is broken - anyone know which investigative journalist would like this?