Our contribution to national performance

We contribute through the delivery of our functions to the following outcomes:

• We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
• We are creative and our vibrant and diverse cultures are expressed and enjoyed widely
• We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination

Our process is inclusive of all members of the community by being free to those raising issues, and through our work to ensure it is as accessible as possible. Information and guidance on making a complaint, and our statutory duty to provide advice, ensures we empower citizens. This year we have sought customer feedback on how accessible our phone service is and have introduced new options for booking call times. By resolving disputes we ensure parties do not resort to other means, and that fair redress is awarded where appropriate, assisting resilience and safety. We make sure an approachable and professional service is provided, which is especially important for vulnerable users. Resilience for communities includes ensuring their access to justice, and we continue to ensure we deliver all our services as accessibly as possible to support this. This includes carrying out an audit of our website accessibility and ensuring no-one is digitally excluded from accessing our services. We encourage early resolution and offer mediation to help parties resolve complaints. Mediations can be arranged online or in-person in a location convenient for the complainer and practitioner.

We actively support diversity and inclusivity, and this work is acknowledged in our staff equality survey results. We have an active staff wellbeing and inclusion group and annual staff-initiated charity fundraising, which are vital tools in supporting individual staff, teams and an inclusive organisational culture. This year we considered the human rights implications of our rules as we worked to updated them.

• We have a globally competitive, entrepreneurial, inclusive and sustainable economy; and
• We have thriving and innovative businesses, with quality jobs and fair work for everyone

The legal sector is a large employer and net contributor to the Scottish economy. Effective redress mechanisms, as provided by the SLCC, encourage consumer confidence and consumer spending. We ensure our rules and statutory guidance do not artificially limit growth or innovation. This year we consulted on updates to our rules to ensure they are fit for purpose in a digital world. Our outreach work aims to improve law firms’ risk management, customer service and complaint handling, which can all help to create thriving businesses. We continue to call for reform to legal services regulation in line with better regulation principles to support innovation.