COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE Policy

This Complaints Handling Procedure 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.

Client Concerns

At Needle, we strive to deliver quality legal services to all our clients, and this includes dealing professionally with and concerns or complaints a client may have.

If you have any concerns about our service, our work, or our charges, in the first instance you should discuss these with the solicitor or fee earner who has day-to-day control of your matter or the partner or supervisor in charge of your matter (this is normally set out in our engagement letter with you). Please provide them with full details of your concerns or complaint whether this is done by telephone, in an email or letter or in a meeting with such person(s).

Designated Complaints Handler

If this person cannot satisfactorily address your concerns and you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Designated Complaints Handler Sharon Needle.

You can write to: Needle Partners Limited, Suite 4, Chapel, Allerton House, Town Street, Chapel Allerton, Leeds LS7 4NB, United Kingdom or send an Email to: info@needlepartners.com

Step One: Acknowledging your Complaint

Within two working days of us receiving your complaint:

· your complaint will be recorded in our Complaints Register;

· a separate file will be opened in which we will store any correspondence and other documents relating to your complaint; and

· we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint.

Step Two: Investigating your Complaint

Within five working days of receiving your complaint:

· we will review your file(s) and any other relevant documentation;

· send you a letter telling you how we propose to deal with your complaint.

Examples of what we might say in this letter are as follows:

· If your complaint is straightforward we might make suggestions as to how we can put things right or we may offer you some form of redress;

· If your complaint is more complicated we might ask you to confirm, explain or clarify any issues;

· We may ask to meet with you to discuss things face-to-face and we would hope to be in a position to meet with you no longer than fourteen working days after first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write to you fully setting out our views on the situation and making suggestions as to how we can put things right, or asking you to confirm, explain or clarify any issues. Within three working days of any meeting, we will write to you again to confirm what took place and to confirm any offer of redress that we have made.

Whichever form our investigation takes, we will aim to give you our final decision within six weeks of receiving your complaint (or sooner if possible).

Step Three: Appealing against our Final Decision

If you are not satisfied with our final decision, please let us know and we will review our decision again.

We will let you know the result of any appeal within five working days of receiving your appeal.

Step Four: The Legal Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman can be found below.

Ordinarily, you cannot use the Legal Ombudsman unless you have first attempted to resolve your complaint using our internal Complaints Handling procedure, but you will be able to contact the Legal Ombudsman if:

· The complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks of first making the compliant to us; or

· The Legal Ombudsman decides that there are exceptional reasons why the Legal Ombudsman should consider your complaint sooner, or without you having to use our internal Complaints Handling Procedure first; or

· The Legal Ombudsman considers that your complaint cannot be resolved using our internal Complaints Handling Procedure because the relationship between you and us has broken down irretrievably.

If you wish to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman you must be one of the following:

· An individual;

· A micro-enterprise as defined in European Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003

(broadly, an enterprise with fewer than 10 staff and a turnover or balance sheet value not exceeding €2 million);

· A charity with an annual income less than £1 million;

· A club, association or society with an annual income less than £1 million;

· A trustee of a trust with a net asset value less than £1 million;

· or a personal representative or the residuary beneficiaries of an estate where a person with a complaint died before referring it to the Legal Ombudsman.

If you do not fall within one of the categories above, you should be aware that you can only obtain redress by using our Complaints Handling Procedure or by mediation or arbitration, or by taking action through the Courts.

Legal Ombudsman Contact Details

Address: PO Box 6167, Slough,SL1 0EH.

Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

If you are concerned that our behaviour is in breach of the principles or outcomes provided for in the SRA’s Standards and Regulations, the SRA may be able to help.

Solicitors Regulation Authority Contact Details

The SRA’s website www.SRA.org will tell you how to raise your concerns with the SRA or you can call them on 0370 606 2555.

Costs

Needle will not charge you for investigating and managing your complaint.