The Legal Services Act 2007 (Commencement No. 12, Supplementary and Transitory Provision) Order 2014

Made: 15th December 2014

Laid before Parliament: 17th December 2014

Coming into force: 20th January 2015

The Lord Chancellor makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 208(2) and (4) and 211(2) of the Legal Services Act 2007[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Legal Services Act 2007 (Commencement No. 12, Supplementary and Transitory Provision) Order 2014 and comes into force on 20th January 2015.

• (2) In this Order—

• “the 2007 Act” means the Legal Services Act 2007;

• “Claims Management Services Regulator” means— the person designated as the Regulator under section 5(1) of the Compensation Act 2006[^f00002], or the person exercising the functions of the Regulator under section 5(9) of that Act[^f00003];

• “regulated claims management services” has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Compensation Act 2006.

Commencement of section 161

2

Section 161 (extension of Part 6 to claims management services) of the 2007 Act comes into force as follows—

• (a) subsection (3) comes into force on 20th January 2015; and

• (b) subsections (1), (2) and (4) come into force on 28th January 2015.

Adaptation relating to acts or omissions before the commencement of section 161

3

For the purposes of the extension of Part 6 of the 2007 Act to regulated claims management services, section 125 of that Act is to be read as if, for “this section”, there were substituted “section 161”.

Supplementary provision

4

For the purposes of section 128 of the 2007 Act a person is to be regarded as an authorised person in relation to regulated claims management services at a time before section 161 of that Act comes into force, if the person was at that time a person authorised by the Claims Management Services Regulator under Part 2 of the Compensation Act 2006 to provide regulated claims management services.

Transitory modification

5

Until the coming into force of paragraph 3(7) of Schedule 19 to the 2007 Act, section 161(4) of that Act is to be read as if the reference to “the Board” were to “the Secretary of State who is exercising functions under section 5(9) of the Compensation Act 2006”.

Signed

Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor

Shailesh Vara — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Ministry of Justice — 15th December 2014

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This is the twelfth Commencement Order made under the Legal Services Act 2007 (c.29) (“the 2007 Act”).

Article 2 commences section 161 (extension of Part 6 to claims management services) of the 2007 Act. That section extends the scope of the Legal Ombudsman scheme in Part 6 of the 2007 Act so as to allow the ombudsman, established under that Part, to consider complaints about the service provided by companies regulated by the Claims Management Services Regulator in accordance with the scheme rules under which the ombudsman operates. By virtue of section 5(9) of the Compensation Act 2006 (c.29) the Secretary of State currently exercises the functions of the Claims Management Services Regulator.

Article 3 adapts section 125 of the 2007 Act in consequence of the coming into force of section 161. Section 125(2) of the 2007 Act makes provision for the Legal Ombudsman to have jurisdiction over acts or omissions which occurred before the commencement of that section. Article 3 adapts the 2007 Act so that, in relation to complaints about claims management services, the ombudsman’s jurisdiction extends back from the coming into force of section 161. This means that the jurisdiction in respect of such complaints is equivalent to that in respect of other legal complaints.

Article 4 provides that persons authorised by the Claims Management Services Regulator are to be treated as respondents for the purposes of the ombudsman scheme where an act or omission to which a complaint relates pre-dates the commencement of section 161. This complements the provision made by section 161 itself which brings persons authorised by the Claims Management Services Regulator within the ombudsman scheme from the date of commencement.

Article 5 modifies section 161(4) of the 2007 Act to substitute the reference to the Legal Services Board in that subsection with a reference to the same Secretary of State who exercises the functions of the Claims Management Services Regulator. This is to reflect the fact that the provision in the 2007 Act which substitutes the Legal Services Board for the Secretary of State as the person who exercises the functions of the Claims Management Services Regulator in the absence of another person being so designated has not been commenced.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2007 c. 29.

[^f00002]: 2006 c. 29.

[^f00003]: Section 5(9) has been amended by paragraph 3(7) of Schedule 19 to the Legal Services Act 2007, but the amendment has not yet been commenced.