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We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then we would encourage you to inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
Our complaint procedure is as follows:
If you have any concerns regarding our service, the level of fees, or the handling of your matter, please contact the individual who manages your case in the first instance.
Alternatively, you may contact our Complaints Officer at [email protected]. We will then provide you with the details of our complaints procedure, which outlines how your concern will be investigated and resolved.
Should you remain dissatisfied with our response or the resolution of your bill, you may escalate the matter to the Legal Ombudsman. Please note that you must first raise your complaint with us directly, and we have eight weeks to resolve it. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction after this eight-week period, you may then ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint. Before you make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, it is a requirement that you have raised your complaint with us first and we have 8 weeks to deal with your complaint. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint after the 8 weeks has expired you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.
Please note that clients must always attempt to resolve any complaints with us directly in the first instance. In most cases, external bodies will not consider a complaint further until we have been given the opportunity to address and rectify the matter.
Legal Ombudsman
We are permitted a period of eight weeks to consider the complaint. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us within that timeframe, then our clients are advised that they may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.
Clients are free to refer any complaint about our work, fees or level of service but there are some conditions and time limits. Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the client having received a final written response from us about their complaint. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within one year of the act or omission about which the client is complaining occurring or from when the client should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint.
For further information, please contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk. The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted at PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH.
Information Commissioners’ Office
To the extent that your complaint relates to a breach of Personal Data or it is evident that you are exercising your Rights as a Data Subject under data and information rights legislation (including, but not limited to the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018), there may be aspects of the compliant that we may have to deal with and/or respond to differently in light of our obligations as a Data Controller. It may be that aspects of your complaint will need to be passed to our Data Protection Officer contact [email protected] to assess and respond to in accordance with our Data and Privacy Notice which is available on our website at privacy-policy-data-protection. Our standard complaint handling timescales noted above may also not be appropriate and we will advise you if we have to escalate the timeframe for responding.
In the event of an allegation of a breach of Personal Data and/or any concern that our firm has not handled your personal information properly, we will consider whether a report needs to be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Not all breaches are reportable and we will advise you of the results of our assessment.
Should it be clear that you are exercising your rights under data and information rights legislation, please be assured that we will handle that aspect of your complaint in accordance with our regulatory obligations. For instance, we will aim to provide a full response to a Personal Data request within one month but if we cannot respond within that timescale, we will let you know when will be able to respond. You can find guidance on our obligations under data and information rights legislation on the ICO’s website (www.ico.org.uk) as well as information on their regulatory powers and the action they can take. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO provided that you have first allowed us the opportunity to attempt to resolve it ourselves. For further information or to contact the ICO please visit www.ico.org.uk/concerns or call 0303 123 1113.
Your rights to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and SRA (as set out above) may still be available to you in addition to your Personal Data rights.
CILEx Regulation
If someone has a complaint about the misconduct of a chartered legal executive, CILEx practitioner or CILEx member, they have the right to submit a complaint directly to CILEx Regulation. Complaints about poor service should instead be directed to the Legal Ombudsman as directed above. For further information about CILEx Regulation’s role and the means to make a complaint, please visit:
https://cilexregulation.org.uk/complaints/complain-to-us/.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
You may also raise concerns with the Solicitor Regulation Authority and further information can be found by following this link https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page
Resolution
If the complaint relates to the conduct of a Resolution Member or Resolution Mediator and suggests that they have worked outside the Resolution Code of Practice or the Family Mediation Council Code of Practice, then a complaint may be referred directly to Resolution. Resolution will only consider the complaint after our own internal complaints procedure has been exhausted (and permitting us a period of eight weeks to attempt to resolve the complaint ourselves). For information. Please see:
https://resolution.org.uk/contact-us/complaints/make-a-complaint-about-a-member/
and
https://resolution.org.uk/contact-us/complaints/make-a-complaint-about-a-mediator/.
If Resolution’s complaints process has been exhausted and the complainant is still not satisfied with the response, where the complaint relates to a mediator, they can appeal directly to the Family Mediation Council. Please see:
https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/complaints-about-mediators/.
Alternative Complaints Bodies
Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate, further details of which can be found at www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both parties agree to use such a scheme. However, we need to advise you that we do not agree to use an additional complaints scheme in addition to or instead of the redress offered by the Legal Ombudsman.