Complaint Handling Procedure

“What to do if you have a complaint”

We aim to provide the best possible service to all our clients, so if you have any concerns, please contact the individual managing your matter as soon as these arise so that they can be addressed promptly. If this does not address the issue to your satisfaction, you can raise a formal complaint, by contacting Mrs Deborah Whicker:

• Telephone:         01442-211003
• Letter:   Phoenix Family Solutions Ltd Three Gables, Cornerhall, Hemel Hempstead HP3 9HN
• Email:    daw@phoenixfamily.uk

To help us understand your complaint and to ensure we do not miss any relevant information please provide your full name and contact details, and information about what you think has gone wrong and when this occurred.

All complaints will be acknowledged by email within four working days, so that you have confirmation that your complaint is being investigated.

We will then investigate your complaint, which will involve reviewing the file and speaking to relevant members of staff. We may need further information from you and will contact you if this is necessary. If appropriate we may invite you to a meeting to discuss the complaint. You would not be required to attend if you do not wish to, and we would be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone if you prefer.

At the end of our investigation, we will provide you with a written response detailing our findings and outlining what action we propose to take. We aim to do this within 28 days of receiving your complaint but will advise you in advance if this period needs to be extended.

Upon receipt of our letter detailing the outcome of our investigation and our proposed action, we would ask that within 14 days you contact us to either inform us:

• That you are satisfied with the action that has been taken and that we can therefore close the complaint, or
• That you are dissatisfied with what is proposed.

Where you are dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, we will carry out a further review of the complaint and consider any new information, if there is any. We will aim to do this within 14 days and then provide you with a final written response to your complaint detailing the findings and proposed action.

If your complaint relates to the service we have provided and you are still not satisfied with the outcome in our final written response to you or we have not provided a final written response to your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving it, then you may be able to have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints relating to poor service, but 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, and you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and
• No more than one year from the date of the act / omission that gave rise to the complaint; or
• No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted by:

• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email on enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
• Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

You may check the complaint status of the company with the Legal Ombudsman over the past 12 months through the decision data website page here: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/data-centre/ombudsman-decision-data/

As the firm is authorised by the CILEx Regulation, if your complaint relates to the misconduct of a CILEX Approved Manager, CILEX member or CILEX Practitioner, you can refer your complaint free of charge to CILEx Regulation for them to investigate. Misconduct is defined as any breach of the CILEX Code of Conduct: 2.-Code-of-Conduct-2019.pdf (cilexregulation.org.uk) Misconduct complaints must be made within 12 months of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint or within 12 months of the complainant having knowledge of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint, whichever is the greater. CILEx Regulation can be contacted by:

• Telephone: 01234 845770
• Email on info@cilexregulation.org.uk
• Website: https://cilexregulation.org.uk
• Post: Room 301, Endeavour House, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire, MK45 4HS.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies exist such as can be found at ADR-Guidance.pdf (cilexregulation.org.uk) which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. Currently we do not agree to using an ADR scheme as we believe our own inhouse investigation supported where necessary by that provided by the Legal Ombudsman and CILEx Regulation is sufficient.

Mediation Complaints

If you have a complaint about any mediation process then this should firstly be raised with the mediator concerned. This should be made within four months of the date conected with the matter of complaint.

The mediator should be able to explore all possibilities to find a solution to your complaint. But if you are not satisfied with the response offered you can then take the complaint to the mediation membership body of the mediator: Family Mediation Council www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk