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Tribunal judges call for regulatory controls over non-lawyer employment advisers

Employment dispute: judges call for level playing field

The Legal Ombudsman should have jurisdiction over non-lawyer employment advisers as part of work to improve consumer protection in the field, employment judges have suggested.

Responding to the Legal Services Board’s consultation paper Enhancing consumer protection, reducing regulatory restrictions, the Judiciary of the Employment Tribunals said its primary concern was the lack of consistency in the redress available to claimants given the wide range of people – most of whom are not regulated – who act as advocates before tribunals.

The judges complained that claimants, the judiciary and the effective operation of the Tribunal Service are all “impacted upon by poor-quality advice, preparation, representation and advocacy”.

“The quality of service provided to the consumer is hugely variable and using a member of the legal profession is not even a guarantee of quality or expertise,” the response said. “A real concern is the lack of effective redress for a consumer whose representative is not covered by statutory legal services regulation. The current system provided by the Claims Management Regulator does not appear particularly effective and there is a lack of public awareness about the requirement for registration if a provider is acting for profit.

“We would welcome consideration being given to including the provision of all employment services within the remit of the Legal Ombudsman and to equalising the protection for all consumers of employment advice and representation.”

However, the judges said greater regulation should not reduce choice in an area “where there are already considerable difficulties in obtaining affordable advice and representation for consumers”.

They said that in the current political and economic climate, “one way forward would be to encourage further provision of skilled and trained pro bono facilities. However, we would not wish that facility to be discouraged by greater regulation”.

Legal Futures Blog

Run that past me one more time

If ever there was a “what the…?” moment since setting up Legal Futures, it was the news that the Stobart Group is entering the legal services market. The story launched many an attempt at humour on Twitter, but I will gladly put them to one side. One can see some challenges for this venture, not least that while Eddie Stobart is a well-known brand, especially among motorway travellers, it is not known for delivering any services, let alone professional ones, to consumers.

May 18th, 2012

Tribunal judges call for regulatory controls over non-lawyer employment advisers