Complaints Policy

This procedure applies to clients of Atterbury Payne Limited.

If you are not a client of the Atterbury Payne Limited you can raise concerns about our work in accordance with the paragraph below, entitled ‘Your complaint’. You will not, however, be able to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and the rest of our Complaints Policy will not apply to your complaint. We shall, however, endeavour to deal with any concerns you may raise promptly and fairly.

Your complaint

Please direct your initial concern or complaint to the lawyer handling your case.

If you feel that we have not resolved the issue or problem satisfactorily in discussion with the lawyer handling your case, please set out your complaint in writing to our Managing Director, Lindey Atterbury, whose contact details are Lindsey Atterbury, Atterbury Payne Limited, Pera Business Park, Nottingham Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 0PB or by email lindsey@atterbutypayne.co.uk. Your complaint will be recorded in our central register.

Acknowledgement

We aim to resolve complaints as soon as possible and we shall endeavour to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receipt. Our acknowledgement will explain the next steps and the likely timescale for sending you our written response to your complaint. We will always endeavour to fully respond to your complaint within eight weeks of receipt of your complaint.

Understanding

We want to ensure that we fully understand your concerns. Therefore, it may be necessary or appropriate to take some or all of the following steps: 1) for us to write to you to clarify our understanding of your complaint and the outcome you may be seeking; 2) have a meeting with you to hear the details of your complaint. This will be a decision taken by us having regard to the nature of your complaint and in consultation with you. If a meeting does take place, we will write to you to confirm the outcome of the meeting. Investigation Your file will be reviewed carefully and the members of staff involved in your case will be spoken to as will the person responsible for your case.

Response

Following the investigation of your complaint, our response will be provided to you in writing and will usually take the form of a letter although this may be sent to you by email only. If you would prefer to receive correspondence by alternative means, please let us know. Our response will set out our decision following the investigation and how we reached it.

Remedies

If we believe that you have grounds for a complaint, we will discuss with you the
remedies that may be appropriate. These may include engaging a different lawyer on your case, changing methods of working, or a financial remedy. We hope that, even after a complaint, you will wish to continue to instruct us. However, we understand that there may be situations where the relationship between us has broken down and this is not possible.

Charges

You will not be charged for the complaints handling process.

Further Recourse:

The Legal Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint using our internal complaints procedure, you may be eligible to refer it to the Legal Ombudsman. The
Legal Ombudsman is an independent and impartial scheme that seeks to resolve complaints by clients about the service they have received from their lawyer.

The Legal Ombudsman only deals with complaints from the following clients:
An individual/consumer.
A business/enterprise with less than ten employees and turnover or assets not
exceeding €2 million.
A charity with a net annual income of less than £1 million.
A club/association/organisation whose affairs are managed by its members/a
committee and which has a net annual income of less than £1 million.
A trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1 million.
A personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of a person who, before they died,
had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
More information about how the Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints can be
found on the Legal Ombudsman website.
The contact details are: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH. Telephone: 0300 5550333
between 9am to 5pm Email address: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

You must refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receipt of our final written response addressing your complaint. We will inform you when we issue our final written response. The Legal Ombudsman will accept complaints up to six years from the date of the alleged act or omission by us about which you are complaining (or if outside this period, within three years of the time when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint).

As set out in our Terms of Business, you have a right to complain or challenge an invoice. However, the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for an assessment of the invoice.

Solicitors regulation authority (SRA)

The SRA is a regulatory body within the legal profession, regulating solicitors and law firms in England and Wales.

Through its Standards and Regulations, the SRA sets the professional rules that those it regulates have to comply with. It deals with cases where firms or those it regulates have breached the SRA Principles.

Anyone can raise concerns of such breaches with the Solicitors Regulation Authority on the SRA’s website.
SRA | For the public | Solicitors Regulation Authority

Alternatively you may telephone the SRA on 0370 606 2555, Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 5pm or you can email contactcentre@sra.org.uk.

31/12/2021