The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) has written to 817 firms asking them to confirm in writing that they have not – and will not – take deductions from miners’ compensation payouts for unions, claims-handlers or themselves, the Gazette has learned.

The letter, signed by LCS chief executive Deborah Evans, has been sent to firms who have handled coal health compensation claims and have not had a complaint about deductions made or upheld against them.

Firms have until 30 September to provide an undertaking they have not and will not make deductions from awards. If recipients fail to respond by the deadline, the letter warns that the LCS ‘will be writing to your clients and inviting them to consider making a complaint to your firm’.

Julian Linskill, a senior partner at Liverpool firm Linksills who received his letter at the end of last month, described it as ‘outrageous’.

‘It suggests either currently, or in the future, firms are likely to engage in, at the very least, unprofessional behaviour and at the very worst, in underhanded behaviour. It’s a threatening letter,’ he said. Linskill also queried whether the complaints-handling body had gone ‘beyond its powers’ by contacting firms that are not the subject of upheld complaints.

Frank Maher, a partner at Liverpool firm Legal Risk, told the Gazette: ‘I do find it surprising that our regulator is writing to firms saying we have no evidence of you having done anything wrong at all and asking for an undertaking you haven’t.’

An LCS spokesman said it had to write to all firms who handled miners’ compensation because the government had been unable to provide enough information on cases to enable the LCS to fulfil its commitment to examine all awards where claimants might have legitimate complaints. He said the LCS was trying to eliminate firms from the process, not threaten them.

The government launched the compensation scheme, thought to be the biggest of its kind worldwide, for miners suffering serious chest disease and vibration white-finger injuries. However, it became mired in controversy after it emerged some solicitors had deducted fees from miners’ awards – for unions or themselves – despite the fact the government had already paid solicitors’ costs.