CLC consumer empowerment efforts having “measurable impact”

Work by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) to consumer empowerment is having “a significant, measurable impact”, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has been told.

In its report to the LSB, the CLC also outlined its experience of co-operation with HM Land Registry and the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), as well as other legal regulators, that aims to put more information into the public domain that can help consumers find and choose a lawyer.

Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s call to drive more choice in the legal market, the LSB published a Statement of Policy on Empowering Consumers in April 2022 and gave regulators a 30 September 2024 deadline to provide assurance about how they are meeting the expectations it sets out.

The CLC’s submission pointed out the 2024 Tracker Survey issued by the Legal Services Consumer Panel showed that 54% of consumers who most recently used a licensed conveyancer shopped around for that service, compared to 41% for all legal services and 48% of those who had recently used conveyancing services (from any provider). Such data in relation to probate services, which the CLC also regulates, was not available.

The findings indicate either that the CLC’s Informed Choice rules are having a greater impact than is average for the legal sector or, when consumers shop around, they are more likely to choose a licensed conveyancer than another provider.

The submission said:

“Given that both factors are likely to contribute to the finding, we can say that the CLC’s Informed Choice regime is effective and is having a significant, measurable impact.”

The CLC’s Informed Choice framework came into force in December 2018 – setting out what and how practices should publish to assist consumers. Monitoring and enforcing compliance quickly became part of the day-to-day operations of the CLC and compliance levels are high.

The submission continued:

“Compliance is kept under review in the same way as all other regulatory expectations, through monitoring, including face to face inspections, and intelligence received.

“Failures to comply with the CLC’s expectations in this area are generally easy to remediate and have not proved challenging…

“We cannot be complacent, however.

“Overall levels of shopping around could be increased, clearly, and the CLC is committed to continuing to bear down on consumer complaints.”

The proportion of transactions involving licensed conveyancers that result in complaints to LeO is very low – roughly 1 in 400 transactions by CLC lawyers lead to complaint investigated by LeO and only around 1 in 2,750 results in a full ombudsman decision. These underline the very high levels of satisfaction with licensed conveyancers (91% satisfied with both the outcome and service) shown in the Tracker Survey.

The CLC is still in discussion with LeO about published data and how it can be used:

“Once the data is clean and reliable, we will consult on ways that it could be made available to consumers.”

The submission also explains how the CLC has decided to adopt the British Standard definition of vulnerability and will be advising firms on how to put that into practice in their work, and is part way through joint research with the Bar Standards Board and CILEx Regulation that aims to find ways to tackle digital exclusion more effectively.

CLC Chief Executive Sheila Kumar led the cross-regulator work to implement the Competition and Markets Authority recommendations and the CLC has also played a leading role in the development of the Legal Choices website, which is exceeding its targets for engagement.

Ms. Kumar says:

“The Competition and Markets Authority identified a shortage of information for consumers of legal services.

“The CLC’s role in the cross-sector initial response and in the development of the Legal Choices website alongside our commitment to our Informed Choice agenda is delivering significantly positive results.

“We are not complacent, though – we know there is still some way to go and are determined to progress the work with other regulators and stakeholders to ensure that consumers are able to make an informed choice of legal service provider in a way that works for each consumer.”

Kindly shared by The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)