Complaints Commission proposes general levy cut
Legal practitioners will be asked to pay less to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission this coming year under the Commission's proposed budget, now out for consultation.
The SLCC proposes a cut of nearly 4% in the general levy, from £324 to £312, but bigger reductions for practitioner groups that generate few complaints: the rate for advocates will come down by 6%, from £159 to £150, and for in-house lawyers by 10% from £106 to £95.
Solicitors in their first three years of practice will pay £156, those practising outwith Scotland £103, and members of the Association of Commercial Attorneys £100. Conveyancing and executry practitioners will pay equivalent rates to solicitors, depending on their status.
In its covering letter to the professional bodies the SLCC states: "We no longer rely on formal determination as our predominant means of dealing with complaints. We have found that both complainers and practitioners in many cases prefer to reach resolution with our help earlier in the process. This means that we are closing cases more quickly at lower costs than before."
Its proposed budget for the year from 1 July 2015 shows a 2.5% overall reduction, from £2,772,580 to £2,704,500, and the SLCC proposes to release a further £83,000 from reserves, 10% more than last year.
Regarding the complaints levy the Commission states: "We intend to recognise the complaints levy for the purposes of calculating our budget and we have included £25,000 of income from this source in 2015-16. It is fairer that more of the SLCC’s running costs are met by those who have complaints upheld against them at the determination stage and who put greater demand on our resources. Whilst we do not propose any change to the range of the complaints levy, we intend to make this part of the considerations of determination committees in setting the levy in cases which are partially or fully upheld. In effect this will introduce an element of cost recovery or 'polluter pays' thinking into the complaint levy imposed.
"To ensure that this is done fairly and transparently, such an approach will only apply to complaints which are made after 1 July 2015 and the policy informing our approach will be published."
It adds: "All parts of the profession benefit from our guidance and outreach work and from the increased public confidence which stems from the existence of an independent and impartial body with powers of oversight over the complaint handling system. All parts of the profession will be paying less in 2015-16 for what we are confident is a more efficient, effective and influential organisation."
Click here to access the budget proposals. The deadline for comments is Friday 20 March.