Complaints handling guidance from LSB for SRA and BSB

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is set to instruct the frontline regulators like the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board to get tough with lawyers who do not handle client complaints properly.

Firms should gather data on first-tier complaints-handling processes and also analyse data from LeO on complaints that then reach it.“This analysis can provide approved regulators with an evidence base to develop regulatory responses to improve outcomes for clients.

These may include:

• supervisory interventions for authorised persons to improve complaints-handling procedures;
• thematic reviews of recurring issues, which may result in changes to approved regulators’ regulatory arrangements for complaints handling,
• supporting policies and guidance; and
• promoting best practice observed during data analysis.”

The draft guidance also urges the regulators to share their work with each other to reduce “poor practice” across the legal market. The LSB has published a consultation document