Dispute over rise in Ombudsman complaints
21 Mar 05
Society defends complaints handling despite increase in Ombudsman referrals
The Law Society of Scotland has denied that a 28% increase last year in the number of complaints referred to the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman represents a significant increase in public dissatisfaction with its complaints handling.
The Ombudsman's figures show that 433 complaints were made to her office in 2004-05 about the way the Society and the Faculty of Advocates handled complaints about their members. Most of these relate to solicitors, reflecting the relative size of the two bodies. The figure has risen from 338 in 2003-04 and from 104 in the four years since 2000-01.
The Ombudsman expressed her concern that the increase reflected a "vote of no confidence in the way complaints are being handled". But the Society pointed out that because it was now processing complaints much faster under new procedures introduced in 2003, the 433 figure would not all relate to complaints received in 2004 - and that the rise also parallels a rise in the number of complaints received by the Society.
Decisions by the Ombudsman may either uphold or criticise the Society's handling of the complaint, sometimes with suggestions for improvement. "Many of the opinions received from the Ombudsman over the past year have been satisfactory", it claimed.