We’re ready to put consumers at the heart of legal regulation

The task now for all parts of the regulatory system is to make that framework a reality. That’s not just about the nuts and bolts of the technical changes, but also about meeting the expectations set out in the legislation of a system that “will best promote competition, innovation, and the public and consumer interest” and will contribute towards achieving new regulatory objectives.

This is about recognising that legal services play a vital role in citizens’ lives and in Scotland’s economy.

While this legislation mostly amends existing statute, taken together the changes it brings are significant for both users and providers of legal services.

It ushers in a new era of entity regulation, with the regulatory focus expanding beyond individual practitioners to look at how businesses operate, and beyond regulated legal services into the unregulated market.

It also makes significant changes to the complaints regime, allowing greater flexibility, proportionality, accountability and transparency, in line with the better regulation principles. We will have new powers to act on trends or concerns we see in complaints, helping to tackle systemic issues and improve the legal services consumers receive. This is vital as we know consumers want lessons to be learned from complaints, and service providers want to know how to spot and avoid the common causes of consumer dissatisfaction.

In line with the aim to put consumers at the heart of regulation, the independent consumer panel will have an enhanced remit to share its views and concerns with authorities across the regulatory system. This consumer input will be vital in shaping how all of these changes are implemented and how the reformed regulatory system delivers improvements for users of legal services.

That’s a lot of change, but it’s an exciting opportunity to put into practice the key aims we’ve been discussing as part of the legislative debate and make them a reality.

As we start a new business year at the SLCC, we are laying the foundations for this work. We’ll be setting out our thinking on what it means to be a regulatory authority, how we’ll play our part in helping to deliver against the regulatory objectives and how we’ll approach using our new powers. We’re looking forward to input from stakeholders, practitioners and consumers to help inform our approach.

We’ll also start planning to deliver the much-needed improvements to the complaints process to make it more effective, more efficient and fairer for everyone. We’ve drawn on our 18 years of complaints handling expertise and learning from other regulated sectors and jurisdictions to inform those improvements. While complaints are never easy, we think these changes will make the system easier for everyone to engage with.

The new legislation isn’t perfect, but it is an opportunity to help make legal services work for everyone involved – those who use them and those who provide them. We’re looking forward to playing our part and working with others to achieve that.

Vicky Crichton is Director of Public Policy, Scottish Legal Complaints Commission