This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman Annual Report
16/05/2006
Former Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman Mrs Costelloe Baker today published her Annual Report to Scottish Ministers.
The Ombudsman looks into complaints about the way the Law Society of Scotland or The Faculty of Advocates has handled, or is handling, a complaint about a practitioner. A practitioner is any member of the Law Society or the Faculty of Advocates, or a conveyancing and executry practitioner who is regulated by the Law Society of Scotland.
The Ombudsman decides if the professional body has given each complaint proper attention, if it has taken appropriate action on the basis of a fair and thorough examination of all the evidence, and if it has acted reasonably, impartially and effectively.
If the Ombudsman finds that the professional body has not investigated the complaint adequately, she can recommend that it:
- provides more information to the complainant
- exercises its powers in relation to the practitioner
- investigates the complaint further
- reconsiders the complaint
- pays compensation up to 1,200 pounds sterling for loss, inconvenience and distress caused by poor complaint handling.
Mrs Costelloe Baker said:
"In my first report to Scottish Ministers in 2001, I recommended that they should consult widely to see if there was a need for fresh legislation for legal services complaint handling. Five years later, in this my last report, I am pleased to record that has finally happened and a Bill to reform legal services complaint handling is now before Parliament.
"In between, in this year like all of the others, there has been a job to be done within the existing, and not always helpful, legislative framework. Endowment mis-selling complaints continue to rise and have been 27 per cent of our workload. The statutory and policy frameworks for the legal services handling of these complaints do not look good compared with the financial services industry; many of the policy holders facing a shortfall in a policy sold through a firm of Scottish solicitors have no alternative to the risky, potentially expensive and daunting prospect of a claim for professional negligence. Those that try the complaint route invariably end up disappointed, and all the more so with the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman's lack of useful powers.
"I am pleased to record the highest ever level of satisfaction with the way the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates have handled complaints. Both have learnt that they have to take complaints seriously by providing adequate resources and expertise and by trying to appear even handed and less bureaucratic.
"I have made one formal recommendation to Scottish Ministers and that is to uprate the maximum compensation that the Ombudsman can recommend to take into account inflation. The current maximum of 1200 pounds sterling was set in 2002.
"As Ombudsman, I have an advisory role as well as the power to investigate specific complaints. Complaints, viewed with an open mind, are a valuable source of information to underpin improved performance and one of my key aims over the past six years has been to highlight areas of professional practice that would benefit from guidance from the professional body. My Report focuses this year on how we have used those General Recommendations - they change things for the future, for all clients, all complainants and all practitioners.
"Annual Reports, like Oscar speeches, provide the opportunity to thank publicly those who have helped along the way. Two specific groups of people deserve special thanks: the staff in the Ombudsmans office, and complainants, without whom there would be no job to do. It is complainants who have allowed the independent scrutiny of two of Scotland's most powerful and influential organisations; I admire their persistence and their almost unwavering courtesy"
KEY FACTS FROM SLSO REPORT:
- Incoming complaints within the Ombudsman's remit rose to 519 in 2005-6 from 505 in 2004-5.
- We achieved a 20 per cent increase in formal Opinions issued - 474 in total.
- In 2005, complaints to the Law Society of Scotland about solicitors rose by 30 per cent to 4849. The Law Society has continued to put time and effort into improving its complaint handling processes, with some success despite the increase in complaints. Complaints made during an investigation fell because it is meeting its time targets and investigations are being completed without delay.
- We took on for investigation 465 complaints about the way the Law Society had handled a complaint - up by 11 per cent. I was satisfied that the Law Society had acted fairly, efficiently and reasonably in 60% of the cases I examined, the highest rating ever recorded.
- I completed 176 Opinions on complaints made after the Law Society had refused to investigate a complaint about a solicitor, a rise of 16 per cent. I remain concerned that the Law Society is still refusing to investigate a significant number of complaints that it is required to investigate. In 17 per cent of the complaints referred to me I found that the Law Society had failed to recognise a complaint that it is required to investigate by law and by its own policies. That is disappointingly high, given that the decision is now being reviewed by a two person Panel, with a solicitor and non-solicitor member.
- I recommended that the Law Society of Scotland pay a total of £28,030 in compensation to complainants for the loss, inconvenience or distress suffered when a complaint investigation had been poorly handled. Sums varied from £10 to £1,200 and the average was 236 pounds sterling. In addition, I recommended that complainants were paid a total of 1,765 pounds sterling to cover their costs in making a complaint to the Ombudsman.
- In 2005 the Faculty of Advocates received 49 complaints about advocates, a slight fall compared with 2004. We took on for investigation 17 complaints about the way the Faculty of Advocates had handled a complaint. In 60 per cent of the cases that the Faculty had investigated, I was satisfied that the investigation had been fair and thorough.
The Ombudsmans Annual report can be read on the website www.slso.org.uk.
KEY FACTS ABOUT THE SLSO
The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman is appointed by Scottish Ministers after open public advertisement and independent selection.
The Ombudsman is appointed for a fixed term of 3 years, which may be renewed once.
The appointment is part time, for 4 days a week.
The Ombudsman is independent of the legal professions and is not a lawyer. She is also independent of Government: the Ombudsmans findings and recommendations are not reviewed by Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Executive.
The Ombudsmans powers are set out in The Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990, The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and Commissioner for Local Administration Act 1997, and The 1993 General Directions to the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman. All of these can be read on the www.slso.org.uk website.
The Ombudsmans Office costs are met by taxpayers and in 2005-06 amounted to 360,645 per cent.
Mrs Costelloe Baker completed her term of office in April on her appointment as the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance refusals without right of appeal. Mrs Jane Irvine was appointed as Ombudsman on 26 April 2006.