In February 2025, the SRA published the findings of an independent study into consumer vulnerability in the legal market. The study was conducted by Professor Harriet Pierpoint and Dr Paolo Baffero at the University of South Wales (USW) into the development of a tool to measure and monitor consumer vulnerability. The research was conducted to better understand the vulnerability factors that can impair consumer access to legal services.
Why And How Was The Research Conducted?
The study was part of ongoing work by the SRA in relation to its strategic aim of enhancing confidence in legal services and its regulatory objectives in the Legal Services Act 2007 to improve access to justice and protect consumer interests. As Paul Philip, Chief Executive of the SRA, explained, “Those who need legal advice and support should be able to access it without barriers or fear. We commissioned this study to help us understand the scale and type of consumer vulnerabilities that exist and whether it would be feasible and beneficial for us to measure them…It is clear that, in order to improve accessibility, build trust and reduce complaints, the legal sector could look at designing services that are accessible and inclusive for everyone”.
The study was divided into 3 phases:
1. A review of 300 sources, including academic literature, legal sources, and regulatory and statutory bodies’ literature, was conducted to understand the existing knowledge on consumer vulnerability and identify knowledge gaps to inform the primary research. This included:
a. The Legal Services Board’s work on consumer vulnerabilities in legal services
b. The UK Regulators’ Network research on identifying vulnerable consumers and
c. The Association of Consumer Support Organisations research on simplifying access to justice for vulnerable consumers.
2. A survey of experts’ views on defining consumer vulnerability and potential methods for us to measure and track this, and
3. A stakeholder event to further explore perceptions on defining consumer vulnerability and the practicality and usefulness of implementing a measurement tool.
The Challenges of Measuring Consumer Vulnerability
The study found there are several ‘sizeable’ challenges and practical considerations in measuring vulnerability, including the fact that vulnerability is complicated, difficult to define, constantly changing and not always apparent. Another challenge is that the measurement of vulnerability would typically be grounded in the use of risk factors; an approach which may oversimplify the identification of vulnerability leading to biased measurements because:
- The word ‘vulnerability’ is widely considered to be harmful or stigmatising. This can make consumers cautious in self-disclosing their vulnerabilities
- There are currently different definitions of vulnerability, and the risk factors used across and within different sectors
- Many organisations have limited resources to identify consumers with these risk factors, and
- Factors can be invisible or overlooked.
Any tool would need to be based on individual characteristics, situational circumstances and external factors.
A ‘Universal Practice’ Approach To Vulnerability
Given the challenges of the commonly used risk-based approach, which is focused on individual adjustments, the study concluded the legal sector could take a ‘universal practice’ approach to meet consumer needs and, as a result, achieve regulatory objectives. Such an approach would involve designing services that are:
- Accessible and inclusive for all, and
- Founded on provider-consumer relationships based on trust and respect.
The researchers’ view is that taking a universal practice approach may complement the legal requirement to provide reasonable adjustments by considering the following factors when designing and providing legal services:
- Moving away from labelling individuals as ‘vulnerable’
- Moving from using risk factors solely to identify resources needed for certain individuals, toward asking people routinely to provide a range of feedback that will steadily support firms to create more inclusive services for all
- Offering a full range of access and communication options to everyone to empower consumers to make decisions about their services, and
- Increasing consumers’ trust by asking empathetic questions to understand all consumers’ specific circumstances and needs.
Final Words
The SRA now intends to work with other stakeholders to identify the feasibility of, and responsibilities for, taking forward this type of universal practice approach within the legal sector. This will involve bringing together some of the experts in this field to reflect on and share views on the research. They also intend to review their Transparency Rules to explore how they can further encourage firms to provide clear communication, understand consumers’ needs and, ultimately, build trust.
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