The profession's consumer watchdog today expressed ‘deep concern’ as a survey found only a quarter of clients know the right route for pursuing complaints.
The Legal Services Consumer Panel’s latest tracker survey found that 51% of clients who used a lawyer knew how to make a complaint about poor service. Of those, less than half (48%) would complain firstly to the law firm, as they are required to do.
The survey of 3,633 adults who had used a legal service in the previous two years found that 28% were uncertain about how to make a complaint and 21% would not know how to do this at all.
The results come as the Solicitors Regulation Authority consults on whether firms should have to signpost clients to complaint information at the end as well as the start of an instruction. The intervention of the consumer panel gives an indication of the pressures being put on the regulator to show that it is taking action.
‘Consumers should not feel disillusioned or ignored when they raise complaints,' said Tom Hayhoe, consumer panel chair. ‘It is vital that legal service providers develop robust mechanisms for resolving issues fairly, swiftly and transparently. Recent scandals in the legal sector have highlighted how important complaints intelligence can be. This is why we are in full support of the approach proposed by the legal ombudsman for standardisation, an approach we have been calling for over many years.’
The tracker survey seems to indicate an issue with clients' understanding of their right to make complaints. Just 55% of respondents found it easy to find out about access to the ombudsman when they were looking for a lawyer: the panel said this information should be ‘easily gleaned’ from a firm’s marketing tools. ‘It is the service provider’s responsibility to make this information accessible, alongside their own complaints’ procedures, and regulators must ensure they do so in an accessible format.’
The ombudsman cannot accept a complaint until it has first been dealt with by the firm itself, and the panel said the culture of inviting feedback is ‘clearly lacking’ when so many people are unwilling to complain to firms directly.
Of those that would not want to complain to their firm, 33% said they would not trust them to deal with it properly, 32% said it would take too long, 28% said it might affect their bill and 14% said their service provider was too hard to get hold of.
The panel cited a lack of available data on first-tier complaints and said all regulators should collate and publish the information they hold. It also wants providers to adopt standardised protocols for managing complaints, ensuring that every client receives a fair and consistent experience.
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