If the public are to have confidence in legal services, they must have confidence that they are able to access effective redress if things go wrong. Through our first-tier complaints work, we are aiming to bring about a step-change improvement in the resolution of first tier complaints (that is, complaints made by the client to the legal service provider) with a view to delivering the best possible complaints resolution system for legal service users.
An important part of this work has been our recent consultation on new statutory Requirements and Guidance, and new Policy Statement, on first tier complaints. Following publication in the spring, these will set out our requirements and expectations of regulators in this area.
Alongside this, we have convened a group of interested stakeholders, including approved regulators, regulatory bodies, the Legal Ombudsman and consumer support organisations, to discuss how the sector can best support a culture change in the handling of first tier complaints and to consider how to ensure that legal businesses are equipped with the skills and confidence they need in order to support this.
On Thursday 15 February 2024 we were pleased to welcome 17 of these stakeholders to the LSB offices for a meeting of the “first tier complaints coalition”. We were also delighted to be joined by Rosemary Agnew, Scottish Public Service Ombudsman, who gave a talk to members on the role of leadership and implementing positive organisational cultures in complaint handling, drawing on her extensive experience in various roles in relation to public sector complaints, including with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
In her talk, Rosemary touched upon some of the principles that should underpin complaints handling, the role of regulators and the value and challenges and collaboration within the sector around complaint handling. This generated some valuable discussions and broad questions for the sector, including the role of representative bodies in promoting the business benefits of good complaints handling, the need to understand where complaints are not coming from, as well as where they are coming from, the need for a sharper focus on “what good looks like” in complaint handling – possibly supported by standardisation – and the challenges that complaints could present for small firms and sole practitioners.
We are extremely grateful for the positive engagement shown by participants on the day, and are looking forward to hearing members’ suggestions as to next steps.
If you would like to be involved with the work of the first tier complaints coalition, please contact Clare Brown, Project Lead (clare.brown@legalservicesboard.org.uk).
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