Legal Services Complaints
Commissioner 2007/08 annual report - "a work in
progress" - published
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
News Release (080/08) issued by The Government News Network on 9
July 2008
PUBLISHED ON
BEHALF OF THE LEGAL SERVICES COMPLAINTS COMMISSIONER
The Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor CBE,
today (9 July 2008) released her fourth Annual Report, 'A
Work In Progress', covering the period 1 April 2007 to 31
March 2008.
The Commissioner said:
"The year 2007/08 was a momentous one for legal services
following the Royal Assent of the Legal Services Act. This Act
will change legal complaints handling for the better with the
expected opening of the new and independent Office for Legal
Complaints (OLC) in late 2010."
In that year, the Law Society's Legal Complaints Service
(LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) closed 18,534
complaints with a complaints handling budget of over £35 million.
Speaking about the LCS and SRA performance in complaints
handling, the Commissioner said:
"In general, there was a mixed performance against the Plan
last year. LCS and SRA met six of the 13 targets I set, exceeded
two and missed five. Their overall performance is now at a level
that provides a platform for moving forward and addressing core
issues in 2008/09.
"As a result, late last month, I announced that despite the
Law Society missing five targets and its failure to act in
accordance with its 2007/08 Complaints Handling Plan that I will
not impose a penalty."
Zahida Manzoor reflected:
"It was disappointing to receive from the Law Society an
inadequate Complaints Handling Plan for 2008/09. The extent of
the inadequacy of the Plan determined the recent imposition of a
£275,000 penalty. I am confident - with effort and commitment -
LCS can and should achieve a higher performance than it was
willing to sign up to in the Plan it submitted. Minimising the
amount of legacy work the OLC could inherit from the LCS is now
one of the key priorities for me."
Looking forward to the future of legal complaint handling, Zahida
Manzoor added:
"I look forward to a new complaints office which is
effective, efficient and transparent - meeting the needs of both
consumers and legal practitioners - and is fit for purpose for the
twenty first century."
(Ends)
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The 2007/08 Annual Report can be downloaded on the OLSCC
website http://www.olscc.gov.uk
2. Ms Manzoor CBE was appointed Legal Services Complaints
Commissioner in February 2004 in addition to her role as Legal
Services Ombudsman (LSO). The Commissioner only has powers in
relation to the Law Society of England and Wales. Ms Manzoor was
reappointed as both Commissioner and LSO for a period of three
years in March 2006.
3. The Commissioner is also the Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO)
for England and Wales. The Annual Report for that Office was
published on 1 July 2008. The roles of the LSO and the
Commissioner are distinct. The LSO examines the handling of
individual complaints by the professional bodies on behalf of
members of the public. The Commissioner examines the Law
Society's capability to handle complaints made about its
members efficiently and effectively.
4. The Commissioner has the power under section 52 of the Access
to Justice Act 1999 to require the Law Society to provide
information on how it deals with complaints, to make
recommendations about the complaints system, to set targets for
complaints handling, and require the Law Society to submit a plan
for improved complaints handling. In addition, the Commissioner
has the power to levy a penalty on the Law Society if it fails to
deliver an adequate plan or fails in the delivery of that plan.
5. The design of this year's report reflects the fact that
improving legal complaints handling is still a work in progress
and is not a finished project. The report has been designed to
enable the reader to quickly identify key issues in the 2007/08
reporting year.
ENDS
News Release
http://www.justice.gov.uk