Increasing market transparency for consumers
Increasing market transparency for consumers
CMA market study
CMA recommendations to the LSB
CMA recommendations to the regulators
Regulator action plans
Key documents
Work on related issues
Increasing market transparency for consumers
This project includes our response to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) legal services market study and work on related issues.
CMA market study
Between 13 January 2016 and 15 December 2016 the CMA carried out a market study into legal services to see if they were working well for consumers and business. Further details of the CMA study can be found on their website:
CMA recommendations to the LSB
The CMA made a specific recommendation to the LSB that it:
- Monitors and engages with the frontline regulators on their progress in implementing the CMA's recommendations directed to them
- Reports publicly, at appropriate intervals, on the sufficiency of action plans published by regulators individually and collectively and the progress in delivering those action plans
- Takes appropriate action where regulators fail to address information gaps.
We have agreed to this recommendation and published a document which explains how we will deliver it. You can find this document below in the key documents section.
CMA recommendations to the regulators
CMA recommended that the regulators develop action plans by 30 June to increase market transparency covering the following four areas:
- Action to deliver a step change in standards of transparency to help consumers (i) to understand the price and service they will receive, what redress is available and the regulatory status of their provider and (ii) to compare providers
- Promotion of the use of independent feedback platforms to help consumers to understand the quality of service offered by competing providers
- Facilitation of the development of a dynamic intermediary market through making data more accessible to comparison tools and other intermediaries
- Making better information available to assist consumers when they are identifying their legal needs and the types of legal services providers (both regulated and unregulated) who can help them.
Regulator action plans
The LSB has received action plans from all the regulators. In line with CMA’s recommendation, the LSB has assessed the sufficiency of all the plans:
Regulator | Link to action plan | Link to sufficiency assessment | Link to progress report |
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants | Action plan | Assessment | |
Bar Standards Board | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
CILEx Regulation | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Costs Lawyer Standards Board | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Council for Licensed Conveyancers | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Intellectual Property Regulation Board | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Faculty Office | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Solicitors Regulation Authority | Action plan | Assessment | Progress report |
Key documents
The LSB engaged with the CMA throughout its market study. In particular, we made a series of announcements and made written submissions to the CMA at different stages, which you can find below.
- 13 January 2016: LSB press release welcoming the announcement of CMA market study
- 03 February 2016: Letter to CMA - LSB's initial views on the market study; Annex to letter - relevant research and analysis to the market study
- 05 April 2016: Letter to CMA - supplementary submission from the LSB providing details of our research into the prices of common legal services for individual consumers
- 19 August 2016: LSB submission to the CMA's interim report
- 19 September 2016: LSB supplementary submission on the reserved activities
- 15 December 2016: LSB press release responding to the CMA's final report
- 19 April 2017: LSB press release announcing how we will deliver the CMA's recommendation directed to us
- 19 April 2017: Document explaining how we will deliver the CMA's recommendation directed to us
- 02 October 2017 LSB sufficiency assessment of action plans
- 16 October 2018 LSB's progress update on commitments in action plans
Work on related issues
In August 2016 we asked the Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) to provide advice on the effectiveness of information remedies in legal services regulation and how these could be improved. When we refer to 'information remedies' in the context of legal services regulation we mean information which an approved regulator requires authorised persons to provide to consumers at any stage - this could be when purchasing a legal service, during service delivery or dealing with a complaint. The LSCP published a report in March 2017 and we will publish our response in due course.
- 16 August 2016: Letter to LSCP seeking advice on information remedies
- 22 March 2017: LSCP's advice on information remedies
- 23 May 2017: Letter to LSCP responding to advice on information remedies
The LSCP's advice followed previous work on open data, which we are taking forward as part of our response to the CMA's market study. Further information on our historic work can be accessed here.
We are also monitoring the CMA's separate market study into digital comparison tools (DCTs), which is examining whether the DCT sector is working well for consumers, and to determine how to maximise the benefits they offer. The LSB welcomed this market study in its response to the statement of scope in October 2016.The CMA published the final report of this market study in September 2017: CMA Digital comparison tools market study.