The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today launched a consultation on its draft business plan and budget for 2022/23 to push forward its ambition to deliver fairer outcomes, stronger confidence, and better services that meet society’s needs.
The proposed activity programme builds on the work the LSB is continuing to do to address the priority areas identified in the consumer-focused strategy, Reshaping Legal Services, while responding to emerging developments within the sector.
Proposed new workstreams include:
Financial protection arrangements (Professional Indemnity Insurance and compensation funds): This will help ensure that the right balance is struck between protecting consumers and the associated costs of that protection. Ultimately, this work will support public confidence in the legal sector
Consumer redress: As well as continuing to oversee the Office for Legal Complaints as part of our statutory duties, this work will focus on delivering the best possible redress system for consumers, including those who use unregulated legal services. The LSB will also review its 2016 rules and guidance on first-tier complaint handling to support good outcomes and align with best practice.
The rule of law and regulation: Supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law is one of the regulatory objectives in the Legal Services Act 2007. Being a lawyer is more than just a job, and legal professionals play a fundamental role in safeguarding the rights we all take for granted. What is less clear is how regulation can best support that role through mechanisms like education and training, ongoing competence and the promotion of professional ethics. Particularly in the light of what some see as increasing public criticism of legal professionals and the legal sector, the LSB considers it important to ensure that the essential role legal professionals play in the functioning of society continues to be valued and promoted.
Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the Legal Services Board, said:
“The activities in our draft business plan will enable us to continue making progress on the challenges outlined in our strategy for the legal services sector and will deliver benefits for consumers, the profession and society more broadly. They will also help to ensure that the essential role of legal professionals in a functioning society is valued and promoted. Our proposed activity programme seeks to addresses some of the issues that have escalated in the sector during the last year, such as the hardening PII market.
“We will continue to be flexible in our approach, as we have been during the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensure our work is proportionate and targeted. Collaborating will continue to be central to our approach, and we encourage people to work with us, and together, to deliver fairer outcomes, stronger confidence, and better services for people who need legal services.”
The consultation closes on 4 February 2022.
-ENDS
Notes to editor
The draft Business Plan 2022/23 and the consultation document are available on the LSB’s website.
The consultation on the LSB’s draft Business Plan for 2020/21 runs from 6 December 2021 to 4 February 2022.