Hayhoe: Innovative and affordable delivery models are essential
The proportion of consumers choosing unbundled legal services has hit its highest ever rate at just over a fifth, according to research for the Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP).
Meanwhile, shopping around for lawyers also hit a new high, with 44% of consumers doing this, up from only 28% since 2019.
When it came to complaints, the LSCP’s 14th annual tracker survey gave consumers new options to explain why they would not complain to their law firm.
More than a quarter (27%) said they would prefer to use a third party to complain for them, 25% that they would be concerned about how their provider would react and 20% that they would not trust the provider to deal with it properly.
The research for the LSCP was carried out for the fourth time by MEL Research, which spoke to 3,750 consumers who had used legal services in the last two years.
On unbundling, 21% of consumers chose this route, up by three percentage points on the year before and the highest rate recorded by the survey.
Unbundling was most common in probate (39%), trade marks (36%), employment disputes (35%) and immigration matters (34%).
We reported last month that work by the Law Society to agree a definition of unbundled legal services [1] with professional indemnity insurers is close to completion as part of efforts to make unbundling easier for solicitors.
When it came to choosing legal services, the proportion of consumers shopping around increased by three percentage points to its highest ever level of 44%.
They were most likely to shop around for family law matters and housing problems as a tenant; criminal matters, patents and powers of attorney were the areas where people were least likely to shop around.
For the first time in 2025, consumers were asked how important it was that a legal services provider was regulated when choosing a law firm.
This emerged as the most important factor (cited by 89% of consumers), followed by reputation (86%) and price (84%).
Consumers found it easiest to find information from providers on costs (70%), whether they could complain to an ombudsman, how long the service would take, and details of professional indemnity cover.
The proportion of consumers paying their lawyer on a fixed fee reached 57% in this year’s survey, up slightly on last year but by 19% from the figure for 2020.
Exactly three-quarters of consumers said they trusted lawyers in general to tell the truth, a slight increase from 73% in 2024.
When consumers were asked whether they trusted lawyers to keep their money safe, 78% said they did – the same proportion that trusted banks.
Satisfaction with the service received by legal providers remained high at 88%, and satisfaction with the outcome of the case at 89%.
Tom Hayhoe, chair of the LSCP, commented: “It is scandalous that so many people who need legal advice cannot afford it. Innovative and affordable delivery models are no longer optional; they are essential to ensuring everyone can access a level playing field, not just those who can foot the bill.
“We applaud the Law Society’s actions to understand the risks in unbundling legal services but call on regulators to play their part in ensuring unbundling is a viable option for consumers.”
Mr Hayhoe added: “Regulators cannot sit on the sidelines – they must act now to grow the legal services consumer base with affordable options.”