SLCC Consumer Panel

The Panel brings a wealth of experience and insight on consumer interests. It uses that to advise, challenge and assist the SLCC in delivering a complaints system which is accessible, provides clear and understandable information and decisions, and delivers a good customer experience.

The Panel’s key focus this year has been providing a strong voice for consumers in the legislative debates leading to the passage of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025. This included correspondence and meetings with the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and a briefing in advance of the Committee’s Stage 2 consideration.

The Panel also met and corresponded with the Minister for Victims and Community Safety and her officials throughout the Bill’s passage and provided a briefing for MSPs in advance of the Stage 3 debate in Parliament.

The Panel secured a strong recognition from across the political spectrum of the need for the consumer voice to be heard to ensure regulation truly meets consumer needs and inspires public confidence.

This led to a significant expansion of the Panel’s remit and functions, and a clear requirement for the Panel’s work to be sufficiently funded by the regulated community. Work to consider how to implement these changes is underway.

This year saw the Consumer Panel advising the SLCC on a number of areas of improvement work. Throughout the year, the Panel provides reflections on the customer feedback the SLCC receives, which informs the development of forthcoming service experience improvements. It also fed into the Service Experience Team’s work on child friendly complaints, withdrawing from acting and early thinking on further work to address perceptions of bias.

The Panel also published a report on demographic data about those who complain to the SLCC, and responded to the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal’s consultation on its standard of proof.