Peace broke out between the Law Society and the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (LSCC) this week as they agreed on the Society's 2006/07 plan to improve complaints-handling.


The commissioner, Zahida Manzoor, reduced by £30,000 the £250,000 fine she had imposed for the 'inadequate' plan the Society originally submitted, and decided not to levy a fine over its failure to meet four of the seven targets in last year's plan.



The news came in the same week that she issued the critical findings of an audit into the handling of complaints relating to solicitors' work under the coal health compensation scheme. This identified 'inconsistencies in the Law Society's approach to individual cases and that the solicitor being complained about often determined the way in which the complaint was resolved'.



Targets in the agreed plan include ensuring that, with immediate effect, 80% of complainants receive a substantive response within 55 days. The Society initially pledged to aim for 58 days by the end of the plan year on 31 March 2007.



Ms Manzoor praised the Law Society and its Consumer Complaints Board (CCB) for moving on a number of targets they originally felt unable to include, adding that she had reduced the fine 'in recognition of the Law Society's positive approach to discussions with me and its submission of this revised plan'.



Despite the 2005/06 failures, Ms Manzoor said she would not levy a fine because of the progress made since her office was created. The Society exceeded the three targets it did meet and, on six of the seven targets, the Law Society improved compared to the previous year.



In an unprecedented joint statement with Ms Manzoor, CCB chairman Professor Shamit Saggar said: 'It is gratifying that the LSCC has recognised the achievements of the last year against what was for the Law Society an ambitious plan... the agreement of a stretching plan for 2006/07 is an excellent basis to build on past improvements.'



The miners report found that full investigations were not carried out in nearly half of the 282 cases audited. 'How can it be that the amount of compensation a miner receives is determined by which caseworker investigates the case and who the miner's solicitor was?' Ms Manzoor demanded.



Deborah Evans, chief executive of the Consumer Complaints Service, accepted that the process may have varied depending on the approach of the solicitor and consumer in agreeing a settlement, but disputed that it depended on the caseworker. 'We work hard to help customers set expectations based on settlements made in similar cases.'



Neil Rose