Our goal is to make the legal complaints process truly accessible to all

Our job is to make sure that anyone who wants to complain about a legal service can make their complaint and have it considered.

We all have different preferences for how we like to engage with services – some of us prefer an online tool we can use on our phones, when and where we like, others prefer a call to discuss their concerns and ask questions. We may want to switch channel at points, depending on the issue at hand.

But in some cases, being able to access a service in a particular way can be a deciding factor in whether you can use that service at all. And that’s where the requirement to be accessible comes in, proactively removing barriers to access wherever possible, or making adjustments where barriers remain.

That might mean providing information in a different format for someone if they request it, but it could also mean changing the format at source so they – and others – can access it themselves, without having to ask. We can and should be willing and able to do both and to learn from any requests we receive about what might help.

We support our team to do just that by providing guidance on accessibility and resources to help with making requested adjustments. But we know that doesn’t mean there won’t be barriers we still need to break down.

We recently heard from a member of the public looking to bring us a complaint. He was using a screen reader – an online tool to read out documents or text – and was struggling to find some of the information he needed. He needed us to understand what that tool does, how it works and what the implications of it were for how we shared information with him.

While we’d have preferred not to have caused that frustration, we are pleased we were able to provide the information he needed and support him to make his complaint. And we learned from that experience about making further improvements to how we provide information on our website and in our correspondence.

Our accessibility journey is a learning one. We’ve listened to and acted on comments, criticism and advice from our customers, disability groups and accessibility experts to help us to improve. We’ve come a long way, but we know there’s further to go.

We also know that being truly accessible isn’t about seeking perfection – we won’t ever be able to deliver a service that is immediately accessible to everyone. But that doesn’t mean we don’t continue to work tirelessly to make our service as accessible as possible.

We know that by removing barriers for some people we make our service more accessible for everyone. By understanding the tools and approaches people might use to access our service we can make our service more accessible at source.

Most importantly, by responding swiftly, openly and positively to concerns about our accessibility and requests for adjustments, we’ll help make our service work for the people we serve now and in the future.

Vicky Crichton is Director of Public Policy, Scottish Legal Complaints Commission