Approved at Chambers Meeting 11th November 2008
- Our aim is to provide our clients with good service. However, if our professional or lay clients or members of the Judiciary have a substantive complaint they are invited to inform Chambers as soon as possible.
- A substantive complaint is one which may cover negligence, incompetence or a significant shortfall in levels of service.
- Where a complaint raises an allegation of negligence the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund will be informed immediately and consulted before proposals for resolution are made.
- Chambers will only consider complaints that are raised within six months of the act or omission complained of.
Complaints made by Telephone
Complaints made in respect of Members of Chambers or members of the clerking /administration team, by telephone, will be dealt with by the Senior Clerk or Head of Chambers, in her absence. The complainant will be invited to make their complaint in writing as detailed in paragraph 6 below.If the complainant wishes to continue with the complaint by telephone the Senior Clerk will make a note of the nature and details of the complaint and what the complainant wishes to be done about it. The Senior Clerk will discuss their concerns and aim to resolve them. If the matter is resolved and the complainant is satisfied, a record will be made in writing of the issues, the outcome and their satisfaction. The complainant will be informed that they may wish to keep their own notes.
If the complaint is not resolved on the telephone, the complainant will be invited to write to the Senior Clerk or Head of Chambers, within 14 days, so that the matter can be formally investigated.
The Senior Clerk will inform the client of the option of raising their complaint directly with the Bar Standards Board and that their complaints procedure has a six month time limit in which a complaint must be raised from the date of the act or omission complained of. However If the complaint is raised with Chambers first, there is a three month time limit from the conclusion of the investigation by Chambers in which to raise the complaint with the Board.
Complaints made in writing
All complaints in writing must contain the following details:- The complainants name and address
- The member(s) of Chambers or member of staff who is the subject of the complaint
- The detail of the complaint
- What is proposed to resolve the complaint
All complaints will be acknowledged within two days of receipt. The complainant will be provided with details of how the complaint will be dealt with, the name of the person dealing with the complaint together with a copy of this procedure / policy.
Complaints in respect of Members of Chambers will be dealt with by Mr. Benet Hytner QC (Head of Chambers) complaints in relation to members of staff will be dealt with by Mrs. Terry Creathorn (Senior Clerk)
Within 14 days of a complaint being received, the Head of Chambers, or a deputy appointed in his absence, will investigate it. If the complaint is regarding the Head of Chambers, the head of the Management Committee will investigate it.
The person appointed to investigate the complaint will write to the complainant as soon as possible to let them know that they have been appointed and that they will reply to the complaint within 14 days. If this proves not to be possible the complainant will be informed that the complaint is under review and of the new date upon which a reply will be sent out.
The reply to the complaint will set out:
- The nature and scope of the investigation
- The conclusion on each complaint and the basis for the conclusion
- If the complaint is justified, the proposals for resolving the complaint.
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
If the complaint remains unresolved the complainant will be advised that they can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman at the following address:Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870,
Birmingham
B30 9EB
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The complainant will be advised that that the Legal Ombudsman has a twelve-month time limit from the date of the act or omission about which they are complaining within which they need to make their complaint.
Documents and Record Keeping
As part of our commitment to client care we make a written record of any complaint and retain all documents and correspondence generated by the complaint. The Senior Clerk keeps these records, together with a copy of all correspondence, including emails or other documentation generated in response to the complaint, for a period of six years.Confidentiality
All conversations and documents relating to the complaint will be treated as confidential and will be disclosed only to the extent that is necessary. Disclosure will be to the Head of Chambers, members of the Management Committee and to anyone involved in the complaint and its investigation. Such people will include the Barrister or member of staff to which the complaint relates. The Bar Standards Board is entitled to inspect the documents and seek information about the complaint when discharging its auditing and monitoring functions.Review, Monitoring and Audit
Our Management Committee inspects an anonymised record of all complaints regularly, with a view to improving services, monitoring any trends and possible training issues. The Management Committee will report their findings to Chambers at the quarterly Chambers Meetings.The Bar standards Board will audit and monitor Chambers complaints handling, including where appropriate, the sufficiency of training.
