LSB proposes measures to improve complaints procedures

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, announced in August, aim to strengthen consumer protection and improve the quality and standards of legal services.

The plans focus on complaints made directly to legal services providers by consumers dissatisfied with the quality of the service they experienced, so-called first-tier complaints (the Legal Ombudsman is the second tier). The LSB’s draft policy statement sets out 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”.

Richard Orpin, director of regulation and policy at the LSB, highlighted the important role a fair, efficient and effective redress system had in ensuring access to justice and safeguarding the public interest. He said the proposals were “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” and that they would “help increase public trust and confidence in the sector”.

The consultation follows the LSB’s research exploring the challenges consumers face when complaining about legal services, as well as a range of evidence that complaints handling was not meeting consumers’ expectations as well as it should.

The consultation closes on 17 November 2023.