The Law Society Green Paper. Proposals for a 21st Century Justice System

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on The Law Society’s Green Paper on proposals for a 21st century justice system.

Trust Alliance Group was formed in 2022 and comprises several businesses that were previously part of Ombudsman Services including Energy Ombudsman, Communications Ombudsman, The Internet Commission and Flexible Resolution Services (which operates a private parking appeals service). We also have a software development company called Lumin which focuses on the development of technological solutions for dispute resolution, including Case Management Systems.

Our purpose is to build, maintain and restore trust and confidence between consumers and businesses and we’re developing diverse capabilities and expertise in a range of areas including digital alternative dispute resolution and case management technology.

We have provided comments in two specific areas: the online portal ‘Solutions Explorer’ and Strengthening the Ombudsman landscape.

The ‘Solutions Explorer’: an online diagnostic tool to identify routes to redress

Q1: Where should an online portal like the ‘Solutions Explorer’ be hosted to foster trust and address the concerns raised by legal services customers?

Q3: To what extent will the ‘Solutions Explorer’ help to address the unmet legal need of individuals on low incomes and small businesses?

We believe it should be hosted by a trusted brand which maintains impartiality and transparency but is also considered accessible. We support the idea of an integrated online diagnostic tool which helps consumers and businesses identify routes to redress and which pulls together all the advice in one place. The tool should specifically help consumers on low incomes and smaller businesses gain a better understanding of the full range of options available to them. We agree that it should therefore be simple to use in terms of design and language and easily accessible for consumers with little legal knowledge or strong digital skills – consideration should also be given to how consumers with no digital access receive support.

It makes sense for the diagnostic tool to take users through a series of questions to help assess the nature of the problem and signpost them to appropriate methods to resolve their issue, including a range of dispute resolution options. We support the idea that users should not need to enter information more than once, so it would be helpful to have integrated services or appropriate Application Programme Interfaces (APIs).

We think that for a portal to be successful it is important to continually review how it’s working and invest and build in enhancing its capabilities and scope. Ideally a portal would be built in collaboration with stakeholders who have knowledge of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) landscape. There is an also an opportunity to look at what other portals (such as the European Union Online Dispute Resolution platform) have managed to achieve; what their successes and challenges were and their lessons learnt.

Strengthening the Ombudsman Landscape

Q4: What else could be done to make Ombuds a more effective remedy for consumers (for example additional powers, funding, marketing and promotion)?

Q5: Which Ombuds schemes could be combined to make the landscape less complex?

It is important that the Ombudsman landscape works for consumers and that identifying which ombudsman can support the consumer should be clear and easy. In this respect, those sectors with multiple dispute resolution solutions could be more difficult to explain. In those circumstances, consumers should receive the same standards of service irrespective of which ombudsman they use. We also recommend ombudsman work closely with businesses, regulators and other key stakeholders around identifying systemic issues and using data to deliver valuable insight.

We think that the recent ruling on 29 November 2023 in the Churchill v Methyr Tydfil Council case could strengthen and encourage the uptake of ADR and the use of Ombudsmen in different sectors.

As mentioned in the paper, we have called for the expansion of the Energy and Communications Ombudsman remit to enhance small businesses’ access to effective redress. We currently only accept disputes from businesses with 10 employees or fewer. We recognise that many small businesses over this threshold can experience similar problems and would benefit from access to free redress at point of use and we have shared our views on the remit expansion with Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in response to Ofgem’s current review of the non-domestic energy market.