OLSCC Releases Second Annual Report

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

17 July 2006

The UK's Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor last week released her second Annual Report, entitled ‘Actions Not Words - Consumers Matter’, which covers the Law Society’s performance for the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006.

The Commissioner announced that:

“My aim as Legal Services Complaints Commissioner is to ensure that the Law Society handles complaints about its members effectively and efficiently. People often access legal services when they are at their most vulnerable. It is essential, therefore, that there is a suitable complaints handling system in place with appropriate redress for when things go wrong.”

Speaking with regard to the Law Society’s performance, the Commissioner stated that:

“With the help of my Office there have been some improvements within the Law Society’s handling of complaints over the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006, compared with performance during the previous year. The Law Society’s complaints handling organisation is, in parts, a more efficient and better performing operation since I was appointed. Consumers now have a better chance of having their case dealt with more quickly and with better quality underpinning the service."

“However, and despite these improvements, there is still much to do to ensure that the users of its services, consumers and practitioners alike, can start to see benefits in all areas. The Law Society missed 4 of its 7 targets for last year and I want to see actions, not just words, over the next 12 months to make up this lost ground.”

In May of this year, Ms Manzoor imposed a GBP250,000 fine on the Law Society for failing to meet its complaints handling targets.

She observed at the time that: "The Law Society has failed to include in its plan all of my targets at the levels set."

Ms Manzoor has been a thorn in the Law Society's side since her appointment as Legal Services Complaints Commissioner in 2004, and the body responded to the announcement of the fine with characteristic anger in May.

Commenting on the matter, Professor Shamit Saggar, chair of the Consumer Complaints Board, argued that:

”This fine is wholly unreasonable. It is outrageously disproportionate to the modest degree of difference between us and Ms Manzoor. The Lord Chancellor himself has noted our continually improving performance. Our proposals for the coming year are ambitious and would significantly benefit consumers. But we cannot commit to unrealistic targets.”

Kevin Martin, president of the Law Society, added:

”The Law Society has a well-documented track record of improvements in complaints handling. We have established an independent Consumer Complaints Board to oversee it and provided the Board with the budget it asked for. It is difficult to see what more we could reasonably do and so this fine flies in the face of logic.”

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