CILEx Regulation conducts an annual survey to gain insight into the complaints which our regulated community receive and how they are dealt with in-house.
This year’s most complained about areas of service were, as in 2015, the following:
Over 80% of complaints were dealt with by a supervisor or complaints officer. Since 2013, there has been a 5% increase in the use of complaints officers. This year, the handling of some complaints was outsourced.
Only 2% of complainants were informed about alternative dispute resolution (ADR); this may reflect the fact that the requirement to provide ADR information was introduced towards the end of the survey year.
Law firms should never charge for handling a complaint and no charge was made by 90% of firms. However, 10% of respondents were unsure whether a charge was made and one indicated a charge had been made, which is a concern.
Twelve per cent of clients were satisfied with the resolution of their complaint, a similar finding to 2015 and a 2% increase from 2014.
The proportion of respondents receiving two complaints increased by 6% - from 13% in 2015 to 19% in 2016.
There was a reduction in respondents receiving only one complaint - from 81% in 2012 and 76% in 2015 to 70% in 2016. About 20% of complaints were unfounded following the firm’s investigation. This was a 2% increase in unfounded complaints compared with 2015. However, since 2012, there has been an 8% fall in complaints being unfounded.
Complaints at first-tier should be actioned within eight weeks. After this, the complainant can refer their matter to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). Encouragingly, the data shows a reduction in the time taken to resolve complaints. More complaints settled in less than two weeks (40% in 2016 compared with 31% in 2012); and more complaints settled between two and four weeks (24% in 2016 compared with 15% in 2012).
Between 10% and 14% of the total complaints were referred to LeO. In nearly 80% of the referrals, LeO agreed with the firm’s decision; in 18% of cases, LeO partially disagreed; and in 3% of the referrals, LeO completely disagreed with the firm’s decision.
This year, as in 2015, the most complained about areas of law - each with about 20% of the total complaints - were personal injury, conveyancing and family.
‘Dissatisfaction with outcome or advice’ was the highest complaint in the litigious areas of family, employment and personal injury law. In the noncontentious areas of law, wills and probate and conveyancing, the highest category of complaints was about ‘delay’.
Respondents reported that clients found their firm’s complaints procedures more complicated and harder to understand than the firm viewed its own processes. Clients felt that they needed better information about timescales for the complaints process, making a referral to LeO and additional ways to make a complaint.
More information about the survey findings is available on the CILEx Regulation website.
* First-tier complaints handling survey 2016, available at: http://www.cilexregulation.org.uk/~/media/pdf_documents/cilex-regulation/resources/report_ftch_2016_survey_final.pdf