We are committed to providing you with an unrivalled quality of service. If something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. This complaints policy tells you how we will deal with your complaint and how long it is likely to take. It also provides important information about what you can do if you are not happy with the way in which we are dealing with your complaint, or about our final decision. This policy also applies to our mediation service.

1. If you have a complaint about our service, our work, or our charges, please contact the fee earner or mediator handing your matter in writing. Please confirm that you are making a formal complaint and set out in as much detail as possible, the basis for your complaint.
2. Your complaint will be acknowledged within three working days of receipt by a senior member of our team who will be reviewing your complaint. If we need any further clarification about the issues that you have raised, we will contact you for further details at this stage.
3. Once we have received full information from you, we will then start to investigate your complaint. We may not be able to fully investigate your complaint until you have provided us with any information or documents requested.  Investigating your complaint may involve one or more of the following steps:

   – we may speak to the fee earners and/or mediator who provided the service to you to discuss your complaint;
   – we may examine your file of papers;
   – we then may ask you for more information.
   

4. We aim to provide you with a detailed response to your complaint within 21 days from the acknowledgment of your complaint. This will include confirmation of our position on your complaint, an explanation of our reasons and our suggestions for resolving the matter.  In the event it will take longer than 21 days, we will notify you in advance of the deadline with detailed reasons as to why we require more than 21 days.
5. In relation to all non-mediation matters, after the above procedure has been followed, if we have been unable to resolve the issue and you remain dissatisfied, (or after a period of eight weeks from the date of making the complaint to us) you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman whose contact details are: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ Telephone: 0300 555 0333.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk     Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk 

In relation to mediation matters, if we have been unable to resolve the issue and you remain dissatisfied, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Family Mediation Standards Board which will consider complaints that concern breaches of the Family Mediation Council’s professional standards. You must contact the Family Mediation Standards Board within 3 months from the date of the breach of the Family Mediation Council’s Codes of Practice or Standards Framework or within 3 months from the last mediation session if your complaint is about the way a mediation was conducted as a whole.  Further information on how to make a complaint to the FMSB can be found at: www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/complaints-about-mediators/