CEO's Introduction

A draft Bill to implement long awaited and much debated reform of legal regulation had completed its Stage 1 consideration, but then Stage 2 consideration was delayed. This gave us some idea of the future role envisaged for the SLCC, and on the original timetable we might even have been moving to implementation within the year. However, we also knew it would be a long debate and the contents could change substantially.

On an operational level we were coming out of a peak year of incoming cases, largely driven by the failure of a single firm, and were dealing with very high levels of work in progress. Would this trend continue, or had we now seen the majority of cases and issues from this incident? 

Faced with a higher level of uncertainty than ever before, we planned accordingly. We extended our 2020-24 strategy for a year to provide stability and allow longer term planning to take place once the legislation was finalised. Our operating plan set goals that would drive delivery if reform was delayed, but which could be adjusted if implementation started. Operationally we planned new work to meet increased demand within our resource.

Uncertainty can be unsettling, and I therefore want to say a particular thanks to all of the SLCC team for their effort, enthusiasm, care, and resilience. We continue to be a team which sees change as an opportunity and full of possibilities to improve what we deliver for the public and sector.

We were delighted that, despite delays, the new legislation was passed, setting a new future for the SLCC I will comment on further later in this report. 

Complaints from the failure of a single firm continued to impact us but numbers started to reduce, and although we continue to have a large live active caseload coming from high incoming in the previous year, we have found ways to manage that. However, this year has seen sustained pressure from victims groups and engagement with them, with other regulators, ongoing media and political interest has continued to require our attention. Although reducing, there has been an ongoing impact this year, and this is likely to continue into next year.

We saw a small improvement in solicitors responding to requests for information and files this year. This is positive, although we need to see this sustained, and it is only being achieved through considerable additional cost, including on court action. We are continuing to engage with stakeholders on how we could improve this situation.

Following some recent court decisions, and in preparation for implementing reform, we have also been piloting new, and more efficient, ways of managing the preliminary decisions we make about the eligibility of complaints for investigation. This work is still evolving, but we’ve been grateful for the positive engagement of practitioners to the new approach.

This report also covers our work across a whole range of other areas of operation. For example, we reviewed equality data from the census and other sources to help us reflect on how we deliver our services and have published the outcome of this work. We also took cautious steps in testing AI, using anonymised data and making sure colleagues verified output. This is part of ensuring we’re open and inquisitive about development which may help improve our work or efficiency. 

I hope the report gives you a flavour of everything we must deliver to fulfil our role.