The GLP Solicitors practices are committed to providing high quality legal advice and client care.

If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the invoice or bill for professional services that has been issued, please contact the Complaints Partner by telephone on the number shown on the relevant page on this website, by email address (clientcare@glplaw.com) or by post.

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.

Designated Complaints Handler

If you have any concerns about our service, our work, or our charges, you should discuss these first with the individual who has day-to-day control of your matter.

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

You can send an email to him at clientcare@glplaw.com or write to him at:
Bury – GLP Solicitors, Maple House, 8 Haymarket Street, Bury BL9 0LR
Prestwich/Pendlebury – GLP Solicitors (Prestwich) LLP, 9 Fairfax Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 1AS

Step One: Acknowledging your Complaint

Within two working days of receiving your complaint, we will:
1. Record it in our Complaints Register;
2. Open a separate file to store correspondence and documents relating to your complaint;
3. Send you a letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint.

Step Two: Investigating your Complaint

We will conduct an investigation of your complaint. This will typically include reviewing your file and other relevant documentation and considering your concerns carefully.

We aim to conclude our investigation and issue a formal written response at the earliest possible opportunity, and in any event, within eight weeks of receiving your complaint.

If your complaint is straightforward, our response may include an explanation, suggestions for how we propose to resolve matters, or an offer of redress. 

If your complaint is more complex, we may contact you for clarification or further information.

If we consider a meeting would assist, we will be in touch to arrange one at a mutually convenient time.  

Following any meeting, we will confirm in writing what was discussed and any outcome or proposals made.

If we are able to respond earlier than eight weeks, we will do so.

Step Three: Appealing against our Final Decision

If you are not satisfied with our final decision, you may request a review. We encourage you to do so promptly so that we can address your concerns.

If we do not hear from you within a reasonable time after our final decision, we will assume the matter is concluded and will close your complaint file.

We will aim to provide a response to your review request within ten working days of receipt.

Step Four: The Legal Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint provided you do so within six months of the end of our Internal Complaints Handling Procedure.

In addition, there are time limits relating to the date you first became aware or should have become aware of the problem. The relevant time limits are set out in the version of the Legal Ombudsman’s Scheme Rules in force from time to time (which can be accessed at: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/corporate-publications/scheme-rules/ or by contacting the Legal Ombudsman using the contact details provided below)  and may only be extended by the Legal Ombudsman in exceptional circumstances.

You must 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 act/omission; or
– No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

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 determines fair and reasonable circumstances 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 are not, 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 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
Telephone:            0300 555 0333
Email:                    enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website:                www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Complaining to the Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Address:                Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone:             0370 606 2555
Email:                    report@sra.org.uk
Website:                www.sra.org

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Where we are not able to settle your complaint using our internal complaints process, there are alternative complaints bodies (such as the Ombudsman Services www.ombudsman-services.org) which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.

Please let us know if you would like to consider using an alternative complaints body to resolve your complaint. Use of an ADR body is optional and would require agreement from both you and GLP Solicitors.

Download: Complaints Handling Procedure