Firms could be required to set out timetables for resolving client complaints under new proposals from the regulator.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority opened a consultation today on additional rules designed to ensure firms improve their complaints-handling.

The inability of some firms to deal with first-tier complaints has been a constant source of frustration for regulators and has had a knock-on effect for the SRA and legal ombudsman, with numbers of enquiries rocketing in recent years.

The SRA last year imposed new rules requiring firms to give clearer information on their complaints processes. But it remains concerned about how many complaints appear to be poorly handled, prompting this new set of proposals.

The proposed rules would require that when a complaint is first made, clients are provided with a timeline for resolution. Clients would also have to be given regular updates. A ‘Complaints Handling Requirements Statement’ is intended to help firms understand and comply with the rules.

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SRA executive director for strategy and policy Aileen Armstrong said that in most cases, clients receive the high-quality, professional support they should expect. But when this does not happen, she added, 'it is important that people have readily accessible and clear information about how to raise any concerns, and that firms have open and transparent processes for dealing with such matters’.

Consultation on the additional new rules will run until 1 September.

The Office for Legal Complaints is already consulting on proposals to increase the cost of a final legal ombudsman decision to £1,500. Cases which go to investigation will cost the legal service provider £750, but the fee for a case resolved early would be just £200.

Currently the individual case fee is £400, but regulators want to incentivise early resolution to help manage the deluge of extra enquiries of recent years.