The complaints levy is currently £3,500, but for complaints heard and upheld at committee on or after 1 July this will increase to £5,000.

However, this complaints levy can be reduced to £3,000 at the committee’s discretion if it thinks the lawyer or firm has followed good practice in complaint handling. There is also a nominal complaints levy of £1,000 if the committee considers the inadequate professional service to be very minor.

In considering whether a reduced complaints levy should be awarded, the committee will take into account:

• Whether internal firm complaint handling policies and procedures were followed.
• Timescales and thoroughness of the investigation and response to the complaint, both internally and at the SLCC.
• Whether the complainer was correctly signposted to the SLCC
• Whether there was any acceptance of service failings or offer of reasonable settlement
• If new explanations, that could have reasonably been provided to the complainer earlier, were only raised once the complaint reached the SLCC
• Any other issues relating to the internal handling of the complaint or contact with the SLCC

In a newly published SLCC case study, the firm had admitted its error and attempted to reach a resolution with the complainer internally. The committee directed a reduced complaints levy.

The SLCC publicly consulted on this change in January 2019, a part of our budget consultation. There were no comments received on increasing the complaints levy.

For more information contact enquiries@scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk