In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure below. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Our complaints procedure

Please contact Mr Alan Simpson, the Principal of the Practice, if you have a complaint. You may write to him at Mill Court, 19 London Hill, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 7HW. Alan Simpson will pass your complaint to the head of the department involved in your complaint.

What will happen next?

1. We shall send you a letter, acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details which you have given to us. We shall also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You may expect to receive this letter within two working days of our receiving your complaint.
2. We shall record your complaint in a central register and open a file. We shall do this within two working days after receiving your complaint.
3. We shall respond promptly to your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You may expect to hear from us within three working days after receiving your reply.
4. We shall then begin to investigate your complaint. This may involve our taking one or more of the following steps:
   - We may ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within five working days.
   - We may examine his or her reply and the information in your complaint file. We may then ask him or her for more information. This may be up to seven working days after receiving his or her reply and the file.
5. We shall invite you to meet to discuss (and hopefully resolve) your complaint. We shall do this within five working days after receiving all of the information required from the member of staff who acted for you.
6. We shall write to you within four working days after the meeting, confirming what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you. If you do not require a meeting (or it is not possible) we shall send to you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter. This will happen within five working days of our completing our investigations.
7. If you are still not satisfied at this stage you should write to us again. We shall then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:-
   - The person dealing with your complaint will review his or her own decision within five working days.
   - We shall arrange for Mr. Simpson to review your complaint. He will do so within ten working days.
   - We may ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. We shall let you know how long this process will take.
   - We shall invite you to agree to independent mediation. We shall let you know how long this process will take.
   - We shall let you know the outcome within five working days after the end of the review. We shall write to you at this time, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We shall also give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman who will deal with your complaint if you remain dissatisified.

We shall let you know if we need to change any of the timescales indicated above and explain why.

What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

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

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

and

• No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
• No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ