Scottish Ministers are looking to appoint a new Chair to the Board of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC).

About Us

SLCC provide a single point of contact for all complaints against Scottish lawyers (solicitors, advocates, commercial attorneys and licensed conveyancers). They investigate and resolve complaints about services and refer conduct complaints to the relevant professional body for investigation.

As a small and focussed public body this is an ideal opportunity for someone stepping up to a chair role for the first time or for an experienced chair wanting to feel they are making a direct and immediate contribution to an organisation. Knowledge of the legal sector is not essential, although we are looking for someone with good experience of governance and decision making.

What are we looking for in a new Chair?

The Chair plays a vital role in leading the oversight of the organisation and the Executive Team, engaging with stakeholders, ensuring a strategy is in place, risk and financial controls are appropriate. To enable the SLCC Board to work effectively and efficiently it is vital we have people with a variety of skills and experience from all walks of life.

Close working with the Chief Executive ensures an effective link between the Board and Executive Team. The Chair also sits on Determination Committees deciding on the outcome of complaints.

The SLCC need a Chairing Member with specific skills along with generic personal qualities. You may have gained your experience / knowledge by working, being active in your community, in a voluntary capacity or just through your own personal life experience – we have explained in the application pack exactly what we will be looking for and how they will be tested in the appointment process.

Training and support

Because of this varied role, the new Chair will be offered a full induction along with regular training. All members are supported by the management team, clerks and investigators, and the other staff of the SLCC and have taken on board members from a large variety of backgrounds.

Time commitment

In total, the time commitment for all work will be:

• around 30 days of fixed attendance (meeting or video calls, although with each meeting usually being a half day).
• around 8 days of work you can complete at home, at a time to suit yourself, and usually in one or two hour blocks.

Length of the Appointment

Appointment will be for a single term of five years. Therefore you can only apply to be a Board member again after a minimum gap of three years. No re-appointments are made to the SLCC Board, however, you can apply to be a Board member again after a minimum gap of three years.

If appointed you will be expected to take up your position on 10 July 2023.

Remuneration and Expenses

The Chair of the Board receives £323.29 per day. Expenses incurred as a result of carrying out the duties of the appointment, including reasonable travel and subsistence costs and dependant carer and childcare expenses, will be reimbursed.

The appointment is non-pensionable.

We’re looking for people to join our team at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. We help resolve issues raised by the public about work carried out by Scottish lawyers.

We help hundreds of people a year. Our team reach decisions which make a difference to people’s lives. In some cases we award compensation and explain why the level of service fell short. In others our independent review of the situation shows the lawyer did all they could, giving the client and lawyer confidence the concerns have been addressed.

We’re a small team of around 55 staff, which makes for a close, friendly team to be a part of. We deliver serious work, but we also have a great deal of fun as a team working together. It also means there are great opportunities to get involved in different aspects of what we do, from driving improvements in our customer service, to running sprints to test new ways of working. We are always improving and innovating. You’ll be involved in designing and testing new approaches, and will move between teams and different types of work to help build knowledge and ensure we can deliver our objectives.

Learning and development is important to us as 70% of our operational management team got their roles through internal promotion. You’ll receive training and coaching to support you within your role. You’ll also have significant flexibility and personal discretion in terms of times and locations of work, and in how to manage your own work load.

We are looking for people with experience in complaints, customer service, legal or regulatory roles, but we don’t have a fixed idea. People from very different backgrounds have excelled in these roles. We want you to have the chance to explain to us how you might help us deliver our role.

Two skill sets are important to us, and you will want to make your previous experience clear in your application. You might be experienced in both or, if only experienced in one, be willing to learn and develop in the other:

Resolution and customer service– we need to talk to the public and lawyers, understand their views and concerns, and help bring these views together to get an agreed solution without a formal investigation or decision. You’ll keep people updated, help them understand the process, and understand their perspective.

Investigation and decisions – you’ll be able to analyse complex information and facts, identify key issues, clearly reason as to whether standards are met or not, and be confident in suggesting a fair outcome.

In both you’ll need clear and concise written English, and care about the quality of your work. You’ll also need to be open to working with peers and managers collaboratively to improve the quality of communication, reasoning and decisions.

If you already work in a statutory complaints process you’ll recognise the key stages of our process as triage, informal resolution, mediation, investigation, and formal adjudication. Experience in this is helpful, and you’ll want to flag it in your application, but it is not essential if you can tell us other ways your experience and skills match the role.

You can work from any UK location for most of the time. All we require is that you attend our Edinburgh office a minimum of one-third of your working days a quarter (around 2 days per week for a full-time colleague). There may also be some specific events that you will need to attend in person. Please note your induction will include more office days in the beginning to help you settle into SLCC, learn about the role and to provide the most support.

You’ll also have 38.5 days paid holiday, including public holidays (pro-rata for less than 35 hours a week). We also offer a Group Self Invested Personal Pension, company sick pay scheme, life assurance, cycle to work scheme, travel loan scheme, volunteer days and a confidential employee assistance programme offering free advice and support across a range of work and personal issues.

We also pride ourselves on being an enjoyable place to work, with a supportive environment, opportunities for self-development, staff charity events and the chance to socialise. We have a staff-led Wellbeing and Inclusion Group. In our last staff survey, 85% of colleagues said they would recommend the SLCC to friends as a place to work, and 97% said we were a fair place to work.

The SLCC helps with unresolved disputes between consumers and lawyers. We're an independent body and our service is free. We’re looking for people enthusiastic about consumer rights, regulation and supporting strong, professional legal services to join our Board as our next chair or lay board member.

Members will be appointed by Scottish Ministers and will take up position on 1 January 2023 for a five-year term. The posts are remunerated.

SLCC board members play an essential dual role. In addition to forming the governance board of the organisation, they also make important decisions on individual complaints.

We would welcome applicants from any background, and we’re looking for a variety of experience reflecting our diverse customer base. We need diverse thinking and different perspectives and talents to deliver our role. Previous board experience is not required, and as a small and focussed public body the role can be a fantastic first step into remunerated non-executive appointments.

The appointments come as the SLCC looks to build on strong improvements in performance in recent years. Members will help to shape the future for the organisation over the coming years, while ongoing discussions about regulatory reform provide an opportunity to influence the system for the next generation of lawyers and the public.

Successful applicants will also have the chance to build their governance skills in a smaller public body and to build their networks in the justice, ombudsman, regulation, consumer and public body sectors.