Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a quality service to our clients. We value feedback from clients greatly because it helps us to continually improve our service. If you do not feel that you are receiving excellent client service or that something could be improved, please do tell us about it. If we have fallen short of the high standards which we have set for ourselves then we would like the opportunity to put it right.

1. What do I do if I have a concern or grievance?

At first it would be helpful if you could discuss any feedback or concerns which you have about our service or how it might be improved with the lawyer dealing with your matter. If the lawyer dealing cannot resolve your concern informally, or if the issue is of such a serious nature that you do not feel comfortable raising it with your lawyer, then you may discuss this with our complaints partner as a complaint under this policy.

2. What can be reported?

It is our policy to acknowledge, investigate, and provide a response/outcome to all reported concerns or grievances raised to us. All reports are reviewed independently to ensure fairness, transparency, and to continually improve our practices.

3. How to submit a concern or grievance?

To raise a concern or grievance, please email Nick Capper, Head of Compliance and Risk (nickcapper@bexleybeaumont.com) with:

• Details of your concern or grievance including why you feel dissatisfied with the service you have received;
• How you would prefer to be contacted about your concern / grievance;
• If there is anything in particular which you would like us to do to resolve your concern / grievance.

4. What happens after I have raised a concern or grievance under this policy?

• You will receive an acknowledgement of your concern / grievance within 7 days of receiving it;
• We will register your concern / grievance on our central database to ensure fairness, accountability and compliance;
• We will investigate the concerns and arrange a discussion with you to try to agree how to resolve the issues within 21 days of receiving your concern / grievance;
• We will write to you within 28 days of receiving your concern / grievance to confirm the outcome of this.

In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to extend these timescales but we will try to agree any variations with you first. If you remain unsatisfied after 8 weeks at the latest we will always ensure that you are reminded at that time of how to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if you are eligible to do so.

5. What might the outcome of my concern or grievance be?

All reported concerns / grievances are recorded and registered by the firm and will progress through a formal independent review process. This is to ensure that all reported matters are dealt with fairly and consistently to ensure we maintain our commitment to our clients, our people, and our third parties to provide a valued, professional and quality service.

No reported concerns or grievances will be rejected without following the formal independent review process.

We very much regret any dissatisfaction which our clients experience and will not hesitate to apologise to you where our service has fallen below our high standards. We may also agree that certain steps will be taken to improve your situation and to ensure that any problems experienced will not reoccur.

6. What if I remain unsatisfied?

If you remain dissatisfied you may be entitled to complain to the Legal Ombudsman about our service.

This service is not available to all clients however such as large businesses. The Ombudsman would generally expect clients to follow a firm’s internal complaints procedure first. You can find further information about the Ombudsman on the website www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

You can write to the Ombudsman at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ or by email on enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or call on 0300 555 0333.

If you wish to raise a complaint with the Ombudsman then you should not delay bringing it to their attention once our own complaints process has concluded as there are some time limits on when this must be done.

For example, normally you must raise a complaint with the Ombudsman within six months of the firm’s own final decision on how to resolve your complaint. In addition, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within:

• one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.

Please note that the Ombudsman are there to deal with concerns about the level of service received.

Where there are more serious concerns that a solicitor or solicitor’s firm has been involved in professional misconduct then reports can also be made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (the regulator of solicitors and solicitor firms). This could be for quite unusual and serious acts of misconduct such as dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability, or other characteristic. Obviously, we do not anticipate any such problems arising and would ask that you notify the matter supervisor straight away if you have any such concerns. Further information on making a report to the Solicitors Regulation Authority can be found on their website by using the following link: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.

You can find out more about the Solicitors Regulation Authority: including their contact details on their website: www.sra.org.uk

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