Empowering consumers: The SRA's approach
22 December 2011
What it's all about
The world of legal services is changing fast.
New businesses and non-lawyers may soon begin to join the market, and outcomes-focused regulation will support lawyers and firms they work for to introduce different ways for legal services to be delivered.
We are the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and part of our job is to make sure consumers get the best possible services and outcomes from these changes. This includes any member of the public or business that uses a lawyer or law firm we regulate.
Consumer Affairs is the part of the SRA that brings together our activities relating to consumers to help us achieve this.
We will
- introduce a "next generation" of ways for consumers to have their say about lawyers and law firms,
- help to unravel the mystery of using a lawyer by providing a "one-stop shop" website service for consumers to quickly find the right support and advice,
- let consumers know in simple terms what to expect from their lawyer, and what to do if something goes wrong,
- provide good quality information that meets varied needs of different consumers, in formats that are easy to find and easy to use,
- work with consumers to ask them directly what information they want, when they want it and what the best ways are of providing it to them,
- launch a new package of research that aims to improve experiences and access to legal services for consumers who are vulnerable and in need of support.
And above all else, through our work we will make sure the interests of consumers continue to sit at the heart of the legal services marketplace in England and Wales.
Our approach
Putting our words into action
Our work falls into three different areas:
- information
we want consumers to easily find and use information they might need about lawyers and law firms
- engagement
we want consumers and organisations that represent them to have opportunities to tell us what they think and to discuss their experiences
- empowerment
we want consumers to be better supported to understand and approach situations where they may need help from a lawyer.
Some of the ways we work towards these include
- using research to help us identify problems people face and to take action to improve outcomes and raise standards,
- providing a broad range of ways for people to contact us including through the use of social networks,
- developing the information we provide through our website to help consumers understand more about the choices they make if they use a lawyer, and
- working with other organisations that support consumers to make sure that we do not overlap and that consumers can clearly understand who they can turn to for help.
Our standards
All of our work under these three areas meet these standards:
- we set clear and achievable goals showing the benefits of our work and how we measure our success,
- we are inclusive, fair and open so that we can provide services of use to consumers with different needs and in different parts of society,
- we improve consumer confidence as a result meaning that all our work in the three areas is well-designed from the start to bring benefits for consumers using lawyers and law firms.
Getting a good result
We measure how successful we are in achieving these standards by
- asking consumers and organisations if they experience improvements and benefits coming out of our work,
- tracking milestones, publishing our workplan, and reporting our progress,
- involving consumers from the start of new projects we carry out in these areas and encouraging them to take part in events we run.
Our approach
The story so far
Much of our work is already aimed at helping consumers when they use a lawyer or a law firm that we regulate, and the approach we are setting out here builds on much of this work. Our work includes
- providing information and support to more than 160,000 members of the public a year who get in touch with us, carrying out consumer research studies every year,
- holding meetings of our Disability Advisory Group where we work closely with disabled people and organisations that represent them so that we can provide the best kinds of help and support,
- running workshops with charities and not-for-profit organisations to talk about ways we can help or break down barriers people may face when using lawyers,
- exploring problem areas faced by consumers by working with organisations such as Citizens Advice,
- building up our website to feature better tools and features for consumers, such as our jargon-buster.
What we are doing next
By December 2012
Our priorities are
- to help consumers understand outcomes-focused regulation and what it means for them in practical terms
- to launch a new generation of communication channels for consumers to find information about lawyers and law firms and regulation
- to introduce a consumer research programme that places vulnerable consumers in the driving seat of bringing about changes they want to see across the legal services marketplace
- to work closely with other organisations within the legal marketplace on emerging consumer issues, including the impacts of alternative business structures for different groups of consumers and businesses when they use legal services, and
- to continue to improve the availability and accessibility of support for consumers through our website and other channels.
We will do this by
- launching a public network for consumers across England and Wales to use when they need help and information, which allows members of the public to have a say about how lawyers are regulated
- introducing an interview programme with consumers exploring outcomes-focused regulation from their perspective, and pinpointing "early warning signs" of circumstances that can lead to problems occurring
- reporting findings from consumer research carried out in collaboration with the Legal Services Consumer Panel and Action on Hearing Loss, and taking forward recommendations for those we regulate about improving services for consumers who experience hearing loss
- developing a programme of engagement events in locations across England and Wales to raise the SRA's profile and provide support and education to consumers about legal services
- building stronger links with not-for-profit organisations and advice agencies and developing a roundtable event to drive forward improvements across the board in supporting people to be more empowered and in control of the relationships they have with lawyers and law firms
- exploring emerging consumer research priorities to understand more about how consumers view quality when they use legal services, and how improvements could be made, and
- introducing further improvements to the SRA website's support and information for consumers, including a consumer alerts area and information made available in different formats and languages.
Interested in finding out more about our consumer affairs work?
Please get in touch
Please use www.sra.org.uk/consumeraffairs to link to this page.