Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact the Risk & Assurance Department. They can be contacted at: PO Box 149, Blyth, NE24 9FZor by emailing: compliance@h-f.co.uk. They will pass your complaint to the designated complaints responder of the department involved in your complaint.
What will happen next?
If you decide to pursue your complaint
- We will record your complaint in our central register and will investigate the issues that you have raised.
- If appropriate we will then invite you to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be done within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
- Within 3 business days of the discussion we will write to you to confirm what took place and any actions that we have agreed with you.
- If a discussion is inconvenient for you, or if we cannot arrange this within a suitable timescale, we will write to you setting out our views on the situation and the steps we propose to take to resolve the issues. This response will be sent to you within 28 days of our acknowledgement letter.
- If you are not satisfied with our response, we will arrange for a partner or someone unconnected with the matter at the firm to review the decision.
- We will write to you within 21 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
If we cannot resolve your complaint:
England & Wales:
If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Legal Ombudsman:
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 03005550333
Write: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman about our service must usually be made within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and no more than one year from the date of act/omission or no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate – exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We do agree to use ProMediate.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority via:
https://sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page
Northern Ireland
If you are still not satisfied you can contact The Law Society of Northern Ireland. Any complaint raised with the Society must be made within six months of conclusion of our complaint investigation.
The contact details for the Law Society of Northern Ireland are:
Email: complaints@lawsoc-ni.org or enquiry@lawsoc-ni.org
Website: https://www.lawsoc-ni.org/
Telephone: 02890231614
Write: The Law Society of Northern Ireland, 96 Victoria Street, Belfast, BT1 3GN
Further details on how to make a complaint to the Law Society of Northern Ireland can be found here: https://www.lawsoc-ni.org/making-a-complaint
Scotland
If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC). The SLCC have time limits as to when they can accept complaints. The time limits which apply depend on what type of complaint you are making.
More information on the time limits of making a complaint to the SLCC can be found here: https://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk/your-complaint/further-information/time-limits/
E-mail: enquiries@scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk
Website: https://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk/
Telephone: 0131 201 2130
Write: Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG
Further details on how to make a complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) can be found here: https://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk/your-complaint/start-your-complaint/
Ireland
If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Complaints and Resolutions Unit at the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. Complaints which relate to alleged inadequate legal services or excessive costs (or both) have a time limit of three years. There is no time limit for making a complaint of alleged misconduct.
Email: Lsra-inbox@lsra.ie or complaints@lsra.ie
Website: https://www.lsra.ie/
Telephone: 01 8592911
Write: LSRA, PO Box 12906, Dublin 7
Further details on how to make a complaint to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority can be found here: https://www.lsra.ie/make-a-complaint/.
CMC (Civil Mediation Council)
In the case of CMC (Civil Mediation Council) complaints, please note the following:
- We will acknowledge CMC complaints within 5 workings days of receipt.
- We will investigate and respond to CMC complaints within 21 working days of receipt.
- Complaints will be investigated by somebody other than the mediator that the complaint relates to.
If you are still not satisfied you can contact the Civil Mediation Council (CMC). The CMC accept appeals on certain grounds. The contact details for the CMC are:
Email: applications@civilmediation.org
Website: https://civilmediation.org/
Telephone: 01707 594104
Write: Civil Mediation Council, 100 St Paul’s Churchyard, 3rd Floor, London EC4M 8BU
Further details on how to make a complaint to the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) can be found here: https://civilmediation.org/complaints/
