LSB challenges regulators on complaints

The LSB has written to the SRA, the BSB, ILEX Professional Standards and other legal regulators reminding them of the need to improve complaints’ procedures.

The move follows publication last week of the second annual report by the legal services consumer panel, which found that public trust in lawyers had gone down, but not to the level of ‘ordinary people’.

Chris Kenny, chief executive of the LSB, said today: “Ensuring that consumers are able to complain about the services that they receive and that the complaints are handled appropriately is fundamental to ensuring that the legal services regulatory system is achieving its purpose.

“Although much progress has been made, most regulators still have more to do in understanding the volume and nature of complaints, focussing on consumer experience of the process and, most importantly, using information about the effectiveness of complaints handling as part of their wider monitoring, supervision and enforcement activities.

“In writing to the regulators we are both reaffirming our determination to ensure that progress on this issue stays at the front of all of our agendas and we are reiterating that the consumer needs continued assurance that complaints will be dealt with in an appropriate and satisfactory manner.”

A spokesman for the LSB added that the board had completed an interim review of regulators’ arrangements for overseeing complaints resolution procedures.

He said the letters sent to approved regulators would make clear that improving the complaints experience for consumers remained “a serious priority” of the LSB.

“They are the latest step in an improvement process which originally started with the Legal Services Act and which has been followed by a number of initiatives including LSB-commissioned YouGov research which demonstrated that consumers were not universally well treated by providers through the complaints process.

“In addition to interim conclusions they outline next steps which the individual regulators should consider taking to meet the complaints handling objectives.”