L37 Response Accepted in Part

Pre-litigation Complaints

Recommendation

A regulatory body should be prepared to allow a complaint to be brought prior to commencing legal proceedings if so advised. Challenges to that approach (and applications to stay) can be decided on the merits.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted the principles for independent self-regulation (Oral Statement to Parliament, Prime Minister's Office, 29 November 2012).
- IPSO states that complaints can be brought before commencing legal proceedings. Complainants are not required to exhaust legal remedies first (IPSO, Make a Complaint, accessed March 2026).
- IMPRESS similarly accepts complaints before legal proceedings are commenced (IMPRESS, accessed March 2026).
- Both regulators publish their complaint acceptance criteria on their websites, confirming pre-litigation access.
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012 that he accepted "the principles that Lord Justice Leveson has laid out" for independent self-regulation, including "an independent board, a standards code, an arbitration service and the power to demand up-front, prominent apologies and impose million-pound fines." However, he rejected statutory underpinning, expressing "serious concerns and misgivings" about crossing "the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land." The Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press was granted on 30 October 2013, establishing the Press Recognition Panel as the recognition body. IPSO was established in September 2014 but has not sought Royal Charter recognition. IMPRESS was recognised by the PRP in October 2016. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report

Read Full Response
Note: 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.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Good Progress
27 Feb 2025
IPSO Other

IPSO allows complaints to be brought before commencing legal proceedings. Complainants are not required to exhaust legal remedies first.

View detailed findings

Pre-litigation complaints are accepted, as recommended.

IPSO complaints process View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Press Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Self-Regulation Complaints Legal Proceedings Standards
Recommendation age 13.5 yrs
Last formal update 4931 days ago