Our outreach and oversight work

Improving conduct complaint handling

This year we saw a significant rise in the number of handling complaints we received, far above the numbers predicted in our operating plan and budget. These included complaints made by the original complainer and by the practitioner complained about. This was in part driven by four sets of linked complaints. We also saw a high an increase in the number of midway complaints, where someone contacts us with a concern about the handling of a complaint while it is still in progress.

As well as investigating individual complaints about relevant professional bodies’ complaint handling, we look at trends in conduct complaint handling and make recommendations for improvements.

We conducted a review of the Faculty of Advocates’ complaint handling processes which concluded that the Faculty’s current complaints process is overly complex and extremely challenging to navigate, especially for lay complainers. We made five statutory recommendations for improvement. We welcomed Faculty’s engagement with us on this work and their commitment to comply with our recommendations. We will continue to work with them to deliver these important improvements for everyone involved in the complaints process.

We also welcomed improvements to Law Society of Scotland conduct complaint investigation timescales following recommendations in our 2023 report.

Arrangements for redress

We have powers to consider provisions for ensuing consumer redress, including the effectiveness of the Client Protection Fund and indemnity arrangements. In 2021 we made a number of recommendations to the Law Society of Scotland regarding the Master Policy indemnity arrangements, and we have continued to monitor this.

Throughout this year we have engaged extensively with the Law Society, Lockton, the lead insurers and their legal representatives to ensure that, as far as possible, consumers receive the redress they have been awarded. This includes specific engagement in relation to the payment of awards to former clients of ceased firm WW & J Mcclure Limited.

Improving complaint handling across the sector

We published a report on the benefits of price transparency and clear costs to reduce the risk of misunderstandings which often lead to complaints. The report outlines what we see in complaints relating to pricing and fees and offers best practice tips to help firms think about how they could better manage their risk of complaints about fees. The report was welcomed by the Law Society of Scotland’s Regulatory Committee.

We took part in a number of conferences and events across the sector on the common causes of complaints and how to deal effectively with them, drawing on case study examples from our caseload. We also spoke directly to firms on issues relating to risk management and complaint handling.

We continued to provide our guidance on good complaint handling in different formats and through different channels, including our website, practitioner newsletter and social media channels, to reach out across the profession.