Commentary on Sections Part 1 – the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission Section 15: Complaint appears during mediation or investigation to fall within different category
36.Section 15 sets out the procedure to be followed where a complaint which has initially been categorised as either a conduct or services complaint later appears to fall wholly or partly within the other category in the course of mediation or investigation by the relevant professional organisation or by the Commission. In such circumstances the Commission or the professional body should suspend the mediation or investigation, consult, co-operate and liaise with each other, send a copy of the complaint along with other material to the other, consult the other on the matter and give the complainer and practitioner notice of its actions.
37.The Commission must then either confirm or alter its original determination of category and notify the practitioner, complainer and professional organisation of the outcome of its review of the original determination and specify the reasons for the determination. The Commission is required to remit any complaint, or part of a complaint, reassessed to be a conduct complaint to the professional organisation to deal with. The Commission’s duties to deal with services complaints are applicable in relation to a complaint or part of a complaint which has been re-assessed to be a services complaint.