Complaints

Your Right to make a Complaint

You have the right to complain to us.

You will not be charged for any time spent handling your complaint.

You can request a copy of this complaint procedure at any time.

We shall aim to deal with any complaint that we may receive promptly, fairly, openly and effectively.

Making a compliant

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We are committed to high quality legal advice and client care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, please let us know so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In this complaint’s procedure, we explain how we will handle a formal complaint. We also explain the role of the Legal Ombudsman and the Solicitors Regulation Authority and provide useful contact details so that you can be properly aware of your rights and the options available to you.

In the first instance please contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns, and they will do their best to resolve any issues at that stage. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the client care letter we sent you at the beginning of your matter.

If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with either the fee earner or their supervisor, or if you have raised your issues with the fee earner and you are still not satisfied with the response, you can refer the matter to the Firm’s Complaints Manager, David Dees, by emailing [email protected] or by writing to him at Heald Solicitors, Artemis House, 4 Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK1 1PT.

Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

If you need to make a complaint, you should:

• Complain as soon as possible;
• Provide your full name and contact details;
• Provide us with your file reference number, if you have it;
• Be clear on what the issue is and how you would like it to be resolved;
• Allow us up to eight weeks to resolve your complaint.

If you require any help in making your complaint, we will try to help you.

Handling and Resolving a Complaint

We will write to you within five working days acknowledging your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy. In this letter, we shall confirm what happens next.

We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:

• Reviewing your complaint;
• Reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
• Liaising with the person who dealt with your matter.

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time. We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.

We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you by telephone, video conference or meeting and the client’s preference will be taken into account when deciding which option is most suitable.

We will provide you with a written outcome following an investigation into your complaint to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Our aim is to resolve all complaints within 8 weeks from the date of receipt.

If you are satisfied with our response following the above steps, that will be the end of the matter. However, if you are not satisfied, you will be invited to contact our Complaints Handling Representative again and they will arrange for another Partner/Director, or other senior staff member who is unconnected with the matter to review the decision. They will write to you within ten working days of receiving the request with confirmation of the firm’s final position in relation to the complaint, outlining the reasons and any final redress that is offered.

Other Avenues

You must always try complaining to us first. In most cases you will not be able to take your complaint further without allowing us the opportunity to put things right.

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 you are advised that you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.

If you fit one of the following categories, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman.

• you are an individual;

• a business or enterprise that was a micro-enterprise (European Union definition) when it referred the complaint to the authorised person;

• a charity that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person;

• a club/association/organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members/a committee/a committee of its members, that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person;

• a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person; or

• a personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of a person who, before he/she died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. The Legal Ombudsman’s service is free of charge and can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received from us.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned, or within one year from when you should have known about the complaint. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you. The Legal Ombudsman will only extend these time limits if they determine it to be fair and reasonable to do so.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them as follows:

• Website: legalombudsman.org.uk
• Phone Number: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Solicitors Regulation Authority

If someone thinks a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, they have the right to notify our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. SRA | Reporting a solicitor or firm to us | Solicitors Regulation Authority

For further information about the SRA’s role, please contact the SRA using the details set out below. Complaints that relate specifically to an alleged breach of the SRA Standards and Regulations including the SRA Accounts Rules, should be referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could be for things like general misconduct, losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

• Website: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/
• Phone Number: 0370 606 2555 between 9am to 5pm. Except Tuesday 9:30am to 5pm.
• Online: https://www.sra.org.uk/home/contact-us/

Further Information

For further information about our complaints handling procedures, please do not hesitate to contact Darren Brockett on 01908 662277, [email protected], or by post to Heald Solicitors, Artemis House, 4 Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK1 1PT