Neil Stevenson

Key highlights include ending the year with the lowest ‘work in progress’ in many years, without any backlogs at any stage in the complaints process, and with the shortest ‘complaint journey’ time in many years. These milestones had already been achieved before the national lockdown lowered the number of incoming complaints.

Neil Stevenson, SLCC chief executive, said: “We started this year in a strong position, and I’m proud to say that our staff and board continued to work hard to drive improvements in our efficiency and productivity, which we know has a real impact on complaint parties.

“While Covid-19 has had a significant impact on our ways of working, we were able to respond swiftly to ensure we could deliver all of our functions and statutory duties remotely, and to meet the needs and expectations of those seeking redress and resolution. We swiftly issued guidance on how we could adjust our process to take account of office lockdown and furlough issues, and we deferred 50 per cent of our general levy by six months.

“Our building focus on process and digital improvement, which will continue under our new strategy, has positioned us well to be able to respond to today’s challenging circumstances.”

Jim Martin, SLCC chair, added: “The SLCC’s role is to deliver the swift and effective resolution both lawyers and legal services users alike look for when issues arise. I’d like to thank staff and my colleagues on the board for continuing to focus on this, even in the most challenging of circumstances.

“This year closed with significant uncertainty and our agility in responding to it will continue to be tested. I am confident that the organisation will continue to rise to the challenge, while advocating for the reforms needed to create more fundamental improvements in the complaints, and wider regulatory system.”