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Client Care

CLIENT CARE

We don’t take you for granted and we pride ourselves on our standard of client care. Legal action can be stressful and take you into very unfamiliar territory. We will do our best to reduce that stress and make sure that you are aware of what we are doing and why.

WHAT DOES EXCELLENT SERVICE LOOK LIKE?

Guiding you to make the best choices for your case, using our specialist knowledge and experience of employment law and procedures.

Actively progressing your matter. Thanks to our focus on quality of service, not quantity of cases, your issue will get the attention it needs, when it needs it.

Providing clear information on fees so that you have control of your costs right from the start.

Keeping you up to date about your matter. You shouldn’t need to chase us to find out what is happening.

IT'S OFFICIAL

Our excellent client care has been recognised in the legal industry:

KEEPING IN TOUCH

We will keep in touch with you regularly throughout the course of your matter by telephone, email or letter. Please let us know if you would prefer a particular method of contact. We will update you promptly if there are any developments which we think you should be aware of.

We will aim to deal with all parties connected with your matter as quickly as we can. Please note that in some instances a measured response may take time to compose. In some cases we may be waiting for someone else to do something or provide information before we are able to respond.

We aim to answer all telephone calls immediately but if we cannot (usually because we are engaged with a client or on client matters) we will try to return your call on the same morning or afternoon as it is received. We aim to deal with emails and letters on the day of receipt.

If you ask to meet with us we will aim to arrange a meeting within the same working week as your request. If the need for a meeting is very urgent we will do our best to see you as soon as possible.

YOUR ROLE

Acceptance of terms and conditions

Before we begin work, we will ask that you accept our terms and conditions. You can do this in one of several ways. We will send you our Care Letter by email together with a second email with instructions on how to sign the letter electronically. Or we can send you written information by traditional post, included will be a copy of our Care Letter for you to sign and return (to indicate acceptance). A stamped, addressed return envelope is provided.

Your instructions

We ask that you provide us with clear instructions and respond to any requests made by us as soon as is reasonably possible. Sometimes we may need to take instructions quickly. That may mean communication after normal working hours.

Your liability for the costs of others

If there is a risk that you could be responsible for the legal costs and expenses of another party we will advise you about this.

Paying your bill

Payment of our costs may be made in several ways. By electronic transfer, cheque or banker’s draft. We do not presently operate a facility to take payment by credit card. We also do not accept payment by cash for amounts over £250, except by prior arrangement.

For longer cases, we may require that a standing order facility is set up for an amount to be agreed and paid at regular intervals.

Bills are payable on delivery. In the event that a bill is not paid, we may apply interest to any amounts outstanding at the rate of 8% per annum. If we have to write to you about money outstanding from you to Spencer Shaw, an administration charge of £20 plus VAT will be added to your account for each letter written.

CONFIRMING YOUR IDENTITY

The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require solicitors to obtain evidence of the identity of their clients. We will carry out an electronic verification of your identity for these purposes.

If you prefer, you may request a manual verification. We will need to see original documents for this. You can visit our office where a copy will be taken free of charge. If you are unable to attend our offices you can go to a local solicitor who will check the documents on our behalf. There is usually a small charge for this service.

We are required to keep copies of the documents for five years following the end of our business relationship with you. We currently retain all client documents for a period of six years. Your acceptance of the Client Care Letter will be deemed as consent for us to retain the copies of identification documents for six years.

The documents we obtain from you to confirm your identity will only be used for that purpose.

We charge a fixed fee of £20+VAT (£24) for these checks to all new clients, excluding settlement agreement.

If you have any questions please contact us on 0121 452 5130.

If you request a manual check, we will need to see one document from each list:

List A

current full passport (signed)

current photo card driving licence

birth certificate

List B

current photo-card driving licence

council tax or utility bill

bank, building society, mortgage or HMRC tax statement

house or motor insurance certificate

KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SAFE

Paper documents are stored securely either on site or at a purpose built secure off-site facility. Electronic documents are stored in compliance with current recommended practice and using encryption processes where available.

Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of their clients confidential. This obligation is subject to an overriding obligation imposed by law.

Legislation passed by the Government to prevent money-laundering and the financing of terrorism has placed solicitors under a duty, in certain circumstances, to disclose information to the National Crime Agency.

Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money-laundering or is linked to the financing of terrorist activity, the solicitor may be required to make a disclosure of that information. If this happens we cannot tell you that a disclosure has been or is being made. That would be an offence known as “tipping off”.

Destruction of papers, documents and electronic files

We will keep your file, except those documents that you ask to be returned, for a period of six years from the date that your matter ends. After that period, the documents and electronic files will be securely destroyed unless there are reasonable grounds to retain them longer.

See our client privacy policy

I had a call back from Ian Jones within the hour. He was very helpful and I would thoroughly recommend you give this firm a call if you are experiencing conflict with your employer.

Adam

GET IN TOUCH

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We take your privacy seriously and will only use the information you provide on this contact form to deal with your enquiry. Please see our Client Privacy Policy for more detail.