Recommendation L14: Free Complaints Process
From An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, published 29 November 2012.
Recommendation
It should continue to be the case that complainants are able to bring complaints free of charge.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended that complainants continue to be able to bring complaints free of charge. David Cameron, Prime Minister, in a statement to the House of Commons on the Leveson Inquiry report in November 2012, accepted the principles of press self-regulation, stating that the media must implement a speedy complaint-handling mechanism, though the statement did not mention free complaints (David Cameron response, Nov 2012). The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press, granted by the Privy Council in October 2013, stated that complainants should continue to be able to bring complaints free of charge (Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press, Oct 2013).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 2 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
In volume IV of the report, Lord Justice Leveson sets out proposals for independent self-regulation organised by the media. He details the key “requirements” that an independent self-regulatory body should meet, including independence of appointments and funding, a standards code, an arbitration service, and a speedy complaint-handling mechanism. Crucially, it must have the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose up to million-pound fines. These are the Leveson principles. They are the central recommendations of the report. If they can be put in place, we truly will have a regulatory system that delivers public confidence, justice for the victims, and a step change in the way the press is regulated in our country. I accept these principles, and I hope that the whole House will come in behind them. The onus should now be on the press to implement them—and implement them radically.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: The Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons on 29 November 2012, the day the report was published, and his answers to members' questions on it (Official Report, HC Deb vol 554, from col 446). He speaks for the Government; the site files his words under the Prime Minister's Office.
Site note: The Prime Minister gives this passage once, for the report's proposals for independent self-regulation of the press as a whole ("the Leveson principles", col 448). The same words are recorded on recommendations 1 to 24 and 34 to 47.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Press has been found in the sources searched (last checked 24 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
UK Government (30 October 2013)
14. It should continue to be the case that complainants are able to bring complaints free of charge.
From: Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press
Site note: The passage is the text of the Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press, granted on 30 October 2013. The Charter sets up the Recognition Panel and the criteria a press regulator must meet to be recognised. It does not report what any regulator or publisher has done.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street
Response - UK Government
Finding