Annual Reports

Summary of the Annual Report 2003–2004

The Ombudsman

What does the Ombudsman do? What are the Ombudsman’s powers? Which laws govern what the Ombudsman can do? What exactly is an Ombudsman’s Opinion, how is it prepared, what happens to it? What is the connection between the Ombudsman and the Scottish Executive and Ministers?

The Ombudsman’s Office

Incoming complaints within the Ombudsman’s remit continued to rise steeply, from 245 in 2002–03.

There has been a significant increase in the proportion of people who have complained to the Law Society or Faculty of Advocates and who then make a complaint to the Ombudsman.

We doubled our investigating staff, from two to four.

We achieved a significant increase in output and performance, completing 323 Opinions and reducing the cost per Opinion.

The Law Society of Scotland

In 2003, the Law Society received 2036 letters that it classified as complaints, a rise of 27%, and 923 letters that it did not initially classify as a complaint, a rise of 6%.

We accepted for investigation 320 complaints about the way the Law Society had handled a complaint about a practitioner — up by 61% compared with last year.

We prepared 127 Opinions on complaints about the way the Law Society had handled a full complaint investigation and in 42% I recommended that the Law Society needed to investigate the complaint again or to reconsider its decision.

We prepared 152 Opinions on complaints that the Law Society had refused to investigate and found that in 20%, the Law Society had failed to recognise a complaint which it is required to investigate by law and by its own policies.

I recommended that the Law Society pay a total of £15,790 in compensation to complainants for inconvenience, distress and loss caused by poorly handled investigations, and that it pay a total of £1,125 to cover complainants’ costs in making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

The Faculty of Advocates

In 2003 the Faculty received 26 complaints about advocates, a fall of 26%.

We received 10 complaints about the way the Faculty of Advocates had handled a complaint about an advocate and completed 7 Opinions.

I am generally satisfied that the Faculty assesses complaints reasonably and fairly but am seriously concerned that the Faculty’s new complaints procedure has not prevented significant delays and administrative failures.

I recommended that the Faculty of Advocates pay a total of £270 as compensation for inconvenience caused by delay and reimburse a total of £70 to cover complainants’ costs in making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Regulation and complaint handling

Regulation and the right to regulate is under the spotlight. Do the professional bodies act in the public interest? Do they act in the consumer interest?

The Wider World

We meet with a wide range of legal practitioners and consumers to improve our understanding of the provision of legal services, and with complaint handling bodies in the non-legal world to learn about best practice in modern complaint handling.

Linda M Costelloe Baker
Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman
July 2004

Source: http://www.slso.org.uk/2003summary.shtml