The new Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) transparency rules have improved the quality of service law firms provide to clients, a study has revealed.
The finding forms part of the regulator’s new report into Standards of Service within the profession.
According to the research, the controversial new price and service transparency rules – recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and launched in December 2018 – have improved customer service and complaints handling.
Under the new rules set out by the regulator, all law firms are now required to publish price and service information for consumers and small businesses.
This includes residential conveyancing, probate, immigration (except asylum), road traffic offences, and employment tribunal claims (unfair/wrongful dismissal) for individual customers, and employment tribunal claims (unfair/wrongful dismissal), debt recovery (up to £100,000), and licensing applications for business premises for business customers.
However, a recent analysis of some 500 law firms’ websites shows that just 25 per cent were “fully compliant”, while 58 per cent were “partially compliant”.
Despite this, four out of five complaints (81 per cent) are now resolved by firms themselves, up from 71 per cent in 2012 – the last available data.
Likewise, the proportion of consumers who say they are unhappy but do not complain has fallen from 49 per cent in 2017 to 35 per cent in 2018. This is directly attributed to more people becoming aware of their rights, while most firms are also raising awareness of their own complaints procedure.
Encouragingly, 88 per cent of consumers are satisfied with the service they receive from solicitors, while two-thirds (65 per cent) said they felt solicitors offered good value for money.
Commenting on the report, Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive, said: “People expect businesses to provide them with high levels of customer service on a day-to-day basis.
“Nowhere is this more important than when handling complaints. By being open and constructive, firms can not only resolve issues quickly but enhance their relationship with their client. This makes good business sense for everybody.”