Legal Services Consumer Panel has issued its 2024 Tracker Survey

Legal Services Consumer Panel has issued its 2024 Tracker Survey reports on how consumers are choosing and using legal services.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel has today published its 2024 Tracker Survey findings of consumer experiences in the legal services market. Results show that robust regulatory intervention is needed to create consistent standards in complaint handling.

Lack of trust was the number one reason (33%) that consumers who knew how to complain gave for not wanting to raise a problem directly with their lawyer. The other reasons? They feared it would delay things (32%) or affect their bill (28%).

Consumers who do not trust their lawyer to respond appropriately to a complaint will find it difficult to get the service they want. Regulators need to ensure consumers can advocate for themselves and help lawyers understand the positive value of consumer feedback.

Consumers must be empowered with clear avenues to complain which inform them they can expect professional and timely complaint handling without negative consequences.

Regulators must use their levers to drive improvement in the sector by telling providers how to communicate complaint procedures with standardised language and formats. A strong complaints handling eco-system serves as a source of helpful feedback for providers and regulators alike, resulting in better services for consumers.

The Panel calls on regulators to take these challenges head on.

Key findings of the 2024 Tracker Survey:

• • Approximately half of consumers (51%) reported that they would know how to make a complaint about the legal services they used if they were dissatisfied, 28% were uncertain and 21% said they would not know how to do this.
  • 33% of consumers who knew how to complain said they would not go directly to their service provider because they did not trust the provider to handle it properly, 32% said it would take too long, 28% thought it might affect their bill and 14% said they were too hard to reach.
  • Satisfaction with the service provided by legal services providers has increased to 87% for the first time, up from 85% in 2023.
  • Satisfaction with the outcome of the case is higher than with the service and, at 89%, is in line with the peak (89%) recorded in 2021.
  • 45% of legal services consumers had their services delivered face-to-face (vs. 43% in 2023), consistent with levels reported prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Consumers from the C2DE social grade were more likely to have used face-to-face legal services (49%, compared to 44% for ABC1s) and more likely to say having the option to meet face-to-face was important (74% vs. 71% for the total sample).
  • 73% of consumers funded their legal services themselves or with the help of family or friends (vs. 71% in 2023); this figure has increased over the long term from 56% in 2012.
  • 41% of consumers shopped around for a legal service provider this year (vs. 39% in 2023).
  • The proportion of those shopping around reporting seeing information on services, staff descriptions or estimated timelines published on providers’ websites has declined to 61% (vs. 66% in 2023).
  • Consumers continued to find the price primarily through a discussion with the provider (62% vs. 60% in 2023).

Tom Hayhoe, Chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, welcomed the 2024 Tracker Survey results, saying:

“Consumers need to have confidence that when something goes wrong, there is a clear and simple route to complain.

“Our research shows this isn’t the case.

“Only half of consumers know how to complain.

“Another significant proportion feel they cannot raise complaints with their legal professionals because they do not trust them to handle it properly, in a timely manner or without charging more.

“Legal services providers need to improve their processes for handling complaints, and do so quickly.

“Clear routes and speedy resolution of complaints are the minimum.

“Together regulators should mandate standardised language that ensures consumers know how to complain, understand the procedures and are assured that complaints will be handled professionally.

“Publishing first tier complaints to law firms will also help drive improvement in the sector.

“Regulators must act now.”

Kindly shared by Legal Services Consumer Panel