Complaints procedure

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 are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about any bill for our services, please raise this first of all with the individual responsible for undertaking your instructions by telephone and then in writing.

If your complaint relates to an alleged breach of the FMC Codes of Practice or Standards Framework, you must do so within 3moths of the alleged event or last Mediation session.

If you are not able to reach agreement with the relevant member of staff, you should then contact Alan Grant, Chief Operations Officer, who has responsibility for issues of client care.

You can contact him at St Mary’s Court, St Mary’s Gate, Chesterfield, S41 7TD, by email alan.grant@elliotmather.co.uk or by telephone 01246 231288.

In the event that your complaint is referred to the Chief Operations Officer:

Within 10 working days of receiving your complaint, the Chief Operations Officer (or his deputy, where appropriate) will formally acknowledge your complaint, informing you of the individual who will be responsible for investigating it (the “Complaint Investigator”). This person will not previously have been involved in the relevant instructions.

Thereafter, the Complaint Investigator will review all of the circumstances relevant to your complaint. This will include a thorough review of the file of papers we hold (including any letters of complaint received), and may include one or more of the following steps:

Interviewing you to obtaining further information and comments, as the investigation proceeds; and
Interviewing any member of staff, who might have information relevant to the investigation and the complaint;

Once we have completed the review, the Complaint Investigator will either:

write to you confirming the result of the review, explaining the reasons for our decision; or
invite you to further discuss the issues raised and our proposals for resolving the complaint. In such an event, we will confirm in writing what took place and any suggestions that we might agree with you.

We would hope to complete this review process and report this to you within 30 working days of receiving your complaint. However, this may prove impractical, with holidays and other commitments. If we cannot complete the review process within this period, we will let you know in writing and explain the reasons why.

If you are unhappy about the outcome of this review process, you may provide us with your further written comments, which will be considered further by the Complaint Investigator. In this event, we would hope to resolve your complaint within a further 30 working days

In the unlikely event that you remain dissatisfied by our response to your complaint, you may refer the matter to Family Mediation Standards Board (FMSB) or the Legal Ombudsman.

Please note:

The FMSB has its own complaints procedure which deals with who is eligible to make a complaint and what circumstances.

For further information you should contact:

The Family Mediation Council – https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/complaints-about-mediators/

The Legal Ombudsman will not be able to accept your complaint if:

- The act or omission, or when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint was before 6 October 2010.
- More than six years have elapsed from the date of the alleged act/omission.
- More than three years have elapsed from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

Further: The Legal Ombudsman may decline to deal with complaints from certain categories of client. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made within six months of receiving the final written response from us about your complaint.

For further information you should contact:

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

Tel: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate – www.promediate.co.uk) 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 not agree to use ProMediate.