About OLSCC - The Office of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (OLSCC)

The Commissioner's powers

The Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor CBE, is an independent, government-appointed regulator.
The Commissioner's main powers on appointment in 2004 were in the Access to Justice Act 1999 at sections 51 and 52, and Schedule 3 to the Act.

Re-appointment and amendment of powers

In February 2009, the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor announced the further re-appointment of Zahida Manzoor as Legal Services Complaints Commissioner until 2 April 2010.

The re-appointment of the Commissioner will run until the closure of the OLSCC on 31 March 2010. The Legal Services Board, the new overarching regulator, will be fully operational by this date. The continuation of the Commissioner’s role until this time will help to ensure that consumer rights are protected during the transition period for the full implementation of the Legal Services Act 2007.

The Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor has from 1 April 2009, amended the powers of the Commissioner. The new powers are aligned with the Government’s priorities for the LCS as it heads towards closure and in the months leading up to full implementation of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). This change will enable the Commissioner to provide a continuing oversight of the Law Society’s complaints handling to ensure there is no decline in standards of performance before the new independent OLC becomes fully operational.

Powers relating to the Law Society

Under section 52(2) of the Act the Commissioner has powers to:
a. make recommendations
b. set targets
c. focus any targets and recommendations on the Law Society’s timeliness in complaints handling and reducing its work in progress during the final year of its operation.

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