The Office of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (LSCC) is set to cost up to several hundred thousand pounds to establish and run, it has emerged.

A recruitment advertisement in last weekend's Sunday Times sought the four senior managers to work under the LSCC: a director of operations (at a salary of up to 74,000), a head of investigation and research (salary range 43,693 to 54,616), a head of policy and planning (43,693 to 54,616) and a head of performance and corporate services (37,480 to 46,850) - all on initial three-year contracts

A Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) spokeswoman said the office's total staff and budget has yet to be settled.

The advertisement said the head of investigation and research will have up to ten staff, while the head of policy and planning will be required to establish a team of policy advisers.

She said it will be smaller than the staff at the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO), where 38 people work.

The LSO's annual running costs are around 1.8 million.

The current LSO, Zahida Manzoor, is taking up the additional role of LSCC.

She has hired consultants to work out what is required for the new operation.

The LSO's office is in Manchester; however, the LSCC will be based in Leeds.

The spokeswoman said this is to take advantage of recent civil service restructuring, which means there are 'a number of high-level people' available in Leeds who used to work at the Department of Health and Department of Work and Pensions.

Ms Manzoor said the eventual size and cost of the office would be 'proportionate to the task'.

Its location in Leeds emphasised the distinct role from the LSO, she added.

The LSCC has been appointed to work with the Law Society to improve complaints handling, and the Society will have to contribute to the cost.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'We are talking to the DCA and the LSCC about how the costs of any new arrangements should be fairly shared out.'

Neil Rose