Member Article

Legal complaints service to be reformed

The legal complaints system will be reformed after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found low levels of grievances were a result of a complex and off-putting procedure.

OFT said that despite recent changes, the current system is not visible enough to consumers, and lawyers are not effectively notified about complaints.

New measures will include active promotion of how to use the complaints system and law firms will have to market the procedure as a standardised requirement across the legal sector.

Research carried out by OFT found that one in seven people were dissatisfied with the UK’s legal profession, out of three million people using the services last year.

Currently, the system works through two different providers, and legal customers are asked to distinguish between whether they wish to complain about the service itself, or the conduct of the provider.

There are up to 10 different approved regulators in current use that receive conduct complaints, depending on the type of legal practice involved in the customer’s issue.

Grievances are flagged up through a “single post-box system” and the Legal Ombudsman subsequently passes enquiries on to the relevant body.

OFT said system failings were down to a lack of effective signposting and clarity for consumers around how to complain, which has led to low levels of reported failings.

Mary Starks, Senior Director of Services, Infrastructure and Public Markets at the OFT, said: “We are encouraged by the recent reforms, which have improved the regulation of legal services and removed unnecessary barriers to firms offering new business models to consumers.

“However our research shows that there is still room for improvement. Too many consumers are unhappy with the service they receive, yet are put off pursuing complaints by the complexity of the system.”

A newly introduced structure for legal practices is also being assessed by OFT, who found that “one stop shop” business structures are being held back by a slow approvals rate.

These structures offer legal services from non-legal bodies, such as accountants or property services, however businesses must be approved to provide such a service.

Research found that just 70 out of more than 150 business applicants have been approved to offer “one stop shop” services, and OFT said approvals must be accelerated and obstacles swept away to allow consumers to access these legal products.

Ms Starks concluded: “A better approach to handling complaints would not only support individual consumers’ right to redress when things go wrong - together with competition from alternative providers it would also drive a more customer-focussed approach by law firms, something our survey results suggest is still needed.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .