Complaints Policy
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 you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
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. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can forward this to us for the attention of the Director, Mr Akbar Sarwar.
Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
There are two types of personal data (personal information) that you may provide to us
PERSONAL DATA
It is the general information that you supply about yourself – such as your name, address, gender, date of birth, contact details, financial information, etc
SENSITIVE PERSONAL DATA
It is, by its nature, more sensitive information and may include your racial or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, political opinions, health data, trade union membership, philosophical views, biometric and genetic data.
How will you deal with my complaint?
We will record your complaint centrally and write to you within two working days acknowledging your complaint.
You may complain to us by telephone or email, if you do not find it easy for whatever reason doing so in writing, although writing provides better evidence of your complaint.
The complaint will be investigated by our Practice Manager, under the supervision of the Director, to ensure impartiality. This will usually involve:
- reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents, and
- speaking with the person who dealt with your matter/other members of staff or third parties where relevant to the nature of the complaint.
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 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 on the telephone.
We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within 21 days of the date of our letter of acknowledgement.
Under the rules of the Legal Ombudsman, we have a period of 8 weeks to resolve your complaint.
What to do 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 can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. You must ordinarily do so within 6 months of our final decision.
From April 2023 you must otherwise bring a complaint before the Ombudsman within a year of when you were aware, or should reasonably have been aware, that you had cause to complain.
The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted
Visit website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Write: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ