Complaints Commission consults on rules changes
Proposed revisions to the rules of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission are currently being consulted on by the Commission.
Three main factors are driving the changes.
First, with a few exceptions, the rules have not been reviewed since 2009. With the benefit of five years’ operating experience, the Commission is seeking to ensure that its rules are fit for purpose. In particular, new provisions are proposed for oral hearings in the presence of the parties, at its own instance or on a request, and handling complaints (those concerning how a professional body has dealt with a conduct complaint).
Further changes reflect amendments to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007, following proposals by a stakeholder group made up of consumer interest groups and the relevant professional organisations, consulted on by the Scottish Government and subsequently approved by the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, to come into force from 1 January 2015. These include giving the Commission more flexibility in investigating and reinstating complaints, and enabling practitioners to complain to the Commission if they feel a coduct complaint has been poorly handled by their professional body.
Finally, the Commission proposes to change the time bar provisions. It is proposed to move from a one year to a three year time bar. A comparison with time bars operated by other professional bodies, and an analysis of the high number of complaints currently excluded by the time bar, are said to be "strong arguments" for change. But the proposal also aims to encourage swift and transparent complaint handling by practitioners in the first instance, introducing a shorter six month time limit where the practitioner makes it clear to the complainer that they will take no further action on a complaint and provides details of how a complaint may be raised with the Commission.
Click here to access the consultation and related papers. The consultation runs until 17 November 2014.