FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, 22 July 2016
LSB updates consumer complaints guidance for regulators
Following an eight-week consultation, the Legal Services Board (LSB) publishes today its updated requirements and guidance for regulators on complaints handling - covering complaints made through lawyers' in-house procedures and signposting to the Legal Ombudsman.
Neil Buckley, Chief Executive of the Legal Services Board said:
"The way in which complaints are handled is a key element of consumer protection. The LSB first issued requirements and guidance to regulators on complaints handling in 2010. Much has changed since then and this consultation has helped us understand how the process is working and what can be done to improve it. I have also been encouraged by the responses from regulators to it.
Data collected during this consultation shows how improvements are happening in complaints handling. It also shows, however, that the number of consumers who could be termed "silent sufferers" appears to remain relatively high.
These are people who understand how to complain but are unwilling to do so due to lack of confidence that their provider will resolve their complaint. We believe that the regulators need to build on what they have already done to encourage those who are regulated to improve how they handle complaints. We are therefore urging the use of complaints data, from both the legal services providers and the Legal Ombudsman, to increase understanding of risks in the delivery of legal services."
ENDS
For further information, please contact the LSB's Communications Manager, Vincent McGovern (020 7271 0068).
Notes for editors:
- These changes are minor style alterations to its signposting and notification requirements for regulators under Section 112 of the Legal Services Act and updated guidance for regulators issued under Section 162 of the Act.
- The LSB decision document and guidance for approved regulators can be found here.
- The consultation document, responses received and other background material can be found here.
- Complaints made through a lawyers' in-house complaints handling procedure are known as first-tier complaints.
- Subsequent complaints made to the Legal Ombudsman are second-tier complaints.
- In May 2010, the Legal Services Board (LSB) published requirements for approved regulators: First-tier complaints handling. This set out that approved regulators (ARs) must require all individuals and entities that they regulate to notify clients in writing of their right:
- to make a complaint, including how, to whom and within which timeframes
- to complain to the Legal Ombudsman at the conclusion of that complaint process if unsatisfied with the outcome. - The Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act) created the LSB as a new regulator with responsibility for overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales. The new regulatory regime became active on 1 January 2010.
- The LSB oversees nine approved regulators, which in turn regulate individual legal practitioners. The approved regulators, designated under Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the 2007 Act, are the Law Society, the General Council of the Bar, the Master of the Faculties, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, the Association of Costs Lawyers and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In addition, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants are listed as approved regulators in relation only to reserved probate activities. - As at 1 April 2016, the legal profession in England and Wales comprised 145,059 solicitors, 15,288 barristers, 6,848 chartered legal executives and 5,697 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing. The UK legal sector is valued at £32 billion per annum (2015) which is up 23% in cash terms since 2012. For more information see here.