Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2014-03-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the provision in the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013, whereby complaints against claims management companies can be made to the Legal Services Ombudsman, will be implemented.

Lord Faulks

The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 provided the necessary enabling powers to put in place the funding arrangements for the Legal Ombudsman to deal with complaints against claims management companies. These provisions were commenced on 21 March 2014. This included a power for the Lord Chancellor to make Regulations to charge fees to recover the costs he has incurred in meeting the expenditure of the Legal Ombudsman in relation to claims management complaints.

Section 161 of the Legal Services Act 2007 will, once commenced, extend the Legal Ombudsman’s remit to deal with complaints against claims management companies. We are continuing to work towards commencing section 161 of the 2007 Act, but prior to this we must ensure that all the necessary legislative arrangements are in place. This includes consulting on the structure of the Lord Chancellor’s cost recovery fee and drafting the fee Regulations, which must then be approved by Parliament. At the same time, the Legal Ombudsman is working on the operational arrangements for taking these complaints, and thus we will deliver this new regime as soon as possible.