The Legal Services Board (LSB) is consulting on proposals to ensure that people who use legal services have access to fair and effective complaint procedures. The proposals aim to strengthen consumer protection and improve the quality and standards of legal services.
The consultation is focused on so-called ‘first-tier complaints’, which are made directly to a legal services provider when a consumer is dissatisfied with the quality of the service provided.
The draft new policy statement sets clear outcomes for regulators to deliver, including collecting and analysing intelligence on complaints to support the best possible redress system and fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement within the sector to raise standards.
The consultation follows the LSB’s recent research exploring the challenges consumers face when complaining about legal services, as well as a range of evidence that first-tier complaints handling is not meeting consumers’ expectations as well as it should.
Richard Orpin, Director of Regulation & Policy at the LSB, said:
‘A fair, efficient and effective redress system is crucial to ensuring access to justice and safeguarding the public interest. Our proposals are designed to support a culture in which the sector responds positively and proactively to complaints and embraces consumer feedback to learn lessons and raise standards. This will help increase public trust and confidence in the sector.
‘We look forward to hearing from all those with a role to play in delivering the best possible redress systems for consumers. The consultation period will run from 24 August 2023 to 17 November 2023.’
For more information on the consultation process, including how to participate, please refer to the consultation document available on the Legal Services Board’s website.
About the consultation
- The consultation is centred around the draft new Section 112 Requirements for Approved Regulators’ Regulatory Arrangements for Authorised Persons’ Complaints Procedures on First-tier Complaints and an accompanying draft Guidance under Section 162 of the Legal Services Act 2007. These proposed changes are designed to replace the existing First-tier complaints handling requirements and guidance.
- As a separate strand to this work, and as part of its commitment to transparency and collaboration, the LSB is building a coalition of stakeholders who share the objective of delivering the best possible redress system and raising industry standards. This coalition will work collectively to establish shared commitments for the sector, aligning with the aims of the consultation.