It’s now almost a year since Consumer Duty, the standard introduced by the FCA to improve consumer protection for financial services firms came into force.
We are just completing our statutory assessment of its implementation which has highlighted how it has improved client outcomes and helped support collaboration with the legal profession.
The Duty supports four outcomes:-
the governance of products and services
price and value
consumer understanding
consumer support
We recognise these outcomes resonate with the SRA’s principles by reinforcing the need for us to operate with independence, honesty, integrity, encourages equality, diversity and inclusion and most important, is in the best interests of the client.
Two aspects of our approach are of particular interest to the legal profession:-
delivering fair value, through implementing a new approach to charging fees, which provides absolute transparency and certainty to the client and avoids cross subsidies
improving customer understanding and support through collaborative working with solicitors
Fair Value Fees
Our approach to fair value predates Consumer Duty. In 2008 we moved away from a commission-based system fees and committed to complete transparency in all aspects of the firm’s relationship with its clients.
We now charge fixed fees, based on the actual costs of delivering our services. We start with a detailed analysis of all service elements, how long each element will take, and who can best team deliver it. Our fee quotations are an aggregation of the required service elements and as we deliver the service, we rigorously record the actual time taken.
We then present the client with a comparison of the actual costs against the quotation and if we incurred less time than we quoted, the difference is refunded. Where we have taken more time, the quotation stands, and we use this information to improve the accuracy of our quotation process.
Finally, a member of our team not involved in service delivery meets the client to ensure they are satisfied that they received fair value and are happy with the services we have provided.
Client Support and Understanding
We have recently implemented RQ, www.rqratings.com a referral management platform for professional services which facilitates effective information sharing, ensures our shared clients receive a joined-up service and a guarantee firm-wide adherence to regulatory rules.
Historically many referrals have been ad-hoc, informal, insecure, and non-compliant. RQ changes all of that, making referrals proactive, transparent, efficient, secure, and fully compliant.
We now work with? firms of solicitors using RQ and our shared clients enjoy significant improvements in service delivery and the collaboration process is far more efficient.
Supporting clients who are carers or in need of long-term care has always been a challenging part of our work.
We therefore subscribed to My Care Hub, mycareconsultant.co.uk/care-hub/ an independent one-stop-shop for care advice, for our clients and family members and have made it available to the solicitors we work with.
My Care Hub enables us to work together to support our shared clients through their full care journey, with clear, layered, guidance, while at the same time supporting our approach to dealing with clients in vulnerable circumstances.
We are still learning how to gain the full benefits of Consumer Duty but can already see significant benefits to our firm and the solicitors we collaborate with.
Comments