A snapshot of coal health compensation cases shows almost two-thirds of cases handled by the Legal Complaints Service are taking too long.

However the audit, carried out by complaints commissioner Zahida Manzoor, shows ‘significant improvements’ have been made, with 99% of the sample audited obtaining a suitable amount of compensation.

The findings, published this week, show that of 274 audited cases, from between 1 February and 30 June 2008, only 34.7% (95) had reached an adjudication decision within the normal six-week period.

As many as 179 cases (65.3%) took longer, with 159 taking more than 12 weeks to come to a decision. Twenty cases took more than 20 weeks. The Office of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner said it will monitor the LCS’s performance in this area.

The audit is the third to be carried out by the OLSCC into compensation cases. It is a response to issues raised in a separate special report on the LCS’s handling of miners’ complaints.

The report cited inconsistencies in awards made to miners, caseworkers not making sufficient use of findings from adjudicated decisions, and LCS managers not identifying and correcting flaws in the way complaints were being handled.

  • The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing involving Barnsley firm Raleys was due to reconvene yesterday (Wednesday) after a four-day adjournment. The hearing is likely to run into February.

Six solicitors deny misconduct in relation to the coal health compensation scheme.