The government has finally set out plans to hand over the responsibility of handling complaints regarding claims management companies (CMCs) to the Legal Ombudsman.
The Ministry of Justice, who have delayed their announcement since April when it was originally decided, announced that the Legal Ombudsman will take over the responsibility at the end of 2014.
The move to switch the responsibility from the Claims Management Regulation Unit (CMRU) to the Legal Ombudsman comes in order to free up the units workload so that they can deliver a more dedicated approach to tackling bad practice within the sector.
The Justice Minister, Shailesh Vara said on Tuesday: “Consumers should be in no doubt that the bad companies out there are being dealt with. We have already ended the licences of more than 1,000 (CMCs) and tough new powers are now being brought in across the board.
“The latest change will make sure people who get a bad service can redress.”
Meanwhile the Legal Ombudsman, Adam Sampson confirmed that they will be ready to tackle complaints about CMCs as soon as the legislation allows.
The work that the CMRU have been doing so has certainly been having the desired effect as far as the personal injury industry is concerned, with the number of CMCs dropping by a quarter since the introduction of the referral fee ban.
Other rule changes that are due to be made will see that CMCs are required to carry out audits displaying how their data has been gathered as the fight against unsolicited methods such as cold calling and texting continue.
Image source(s)
1. Legal Ombudsman; https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/