{"id":1064,"date":"2016-09-01T15:28:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T15:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gilbertstephens.co.uk\/?page_id=1064"},"modified":"2023-11-06T16:09:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:09:54","slug":"our-policies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gilbertstephens.co.uk\/our-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Policies<\/h1>\n

Gilbert Stephens LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (Number 536070). <\/a>We have Lexcel, Law Society Family Law and Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation see more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our Equality and Diversity policy<\/h2>\n

The firm\u2019s statement of principle on equal opportunities is:<\/p>\n

The firm is committed to a policy of treating all employees, job applicants, clients, professional advisers and associated third parties equally.\u00a0 <\/strong>No individual shall receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of:<\/p>\n

(a) Race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins
\n(b) Religion or belief
\n(c) Sex or marital\/civil partner status
\n(d) Sexual orientation
\n(e) Gender reassignment
\n(f) Pregnancy and maternity, including breast feeding
\n(g) Age (or perceived age)
\n(h) Disability (past or present)
\n(i) Trade union membership (or non-membership)
\n(j) Part-time or fixed term status<\/p>\n

Collectively known as \u201cthe forbidden grounds\u201d<\/p>\n

No employee or potential employee shall be disadvantaged by any conditions of employment that cannot be justified as necessary on operational grounds.<\/p>\n

The firm aims to encourage, value and manage diversity and is committed to equality for its entire staff. The firm wishes to attain a workforce which is representative of the communities from which it is drawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm’s full Equal Opportunities Policy is available on request. Please make your request by phone – 01392 42 42 42 or email Law@gilbertstephens.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Firms regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)<\/a> are required to collect, report & publish workforce diversity data. A summary of our annual data is available free of charge on request. Please address your requests, by email, to\u00a0Vicky Thompson, CEO, VickyThompson@gilbertstephens.co.uk.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Our client account interest policy<\/h3>\n

Policy for payment of interest on funds held on client account<\/p>\n

1. Rule 7 of the SRA Accounts Rules 2019
\n<\/strong>We are required to pay interest on funds in client account to clients or third parties for a fair sum of interest on any client money held by you on their behalf. We may by a written agreement come to a different arrangement with the client or the third party for whom the money is held as to the payment of interest but must provide sufficient information to enable them to give informed consent. Our policy is based on client funds being held in an instant access account with our bank to facilitate the transaction for which the funds are held and seeks to match the level of interest which our clients would receive on funds placed in an instant access account with the bank.<\/p>\n

2. General client account
\n<\/strong>We will normally pay interest (where appropriate) within 28 days of completion of the matter or other termination of the retainer on funds held in our general client account. We will apply a de minimis figure of \u00a350.00 below which no interest will be paid and any interest earned will be retained by the firm. If funds are held at the same time on separate matters for the same client such funds will normally be treated separately for interest purposes, but they may be aggregated where the matters are so closely related that it is fair and reasonable to do so.<\/p>\n

3. Clearance periods
\n<\/strong>We will operate a clearance for interest purposes period of 3 working days on incoming and outgoing payments by cheque. The period for fate\/clearance is \u00a03 working days. Receipts and payments by electronic bank transfer (including CHAPS) or banker\u2019s draft will be treated as cleared on receipt or payment for interest purposes.<\/p>\n

4. Review<\/strong>
\nWe will review this policy and publish any changes not less than annually or whenever there is a significant change in the bank base rate.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Complaints Handling Policy And Procedure<\/h3>\n

O<\/strong>ur Complaints Policy
\n<\/strong>We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients.\u00a0 When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us improve our standards.<\/p>\n

Our Complaints Procedure
\n<\/strong>If you have a complaint, please contact the person who dealt with your matter in the first instance.\u00a0 If your concerns are not addressed to your satisfaction at this juncture please contact the firm’s Client Care Manager, Terry Bastyan<\/a> on 01392 424242 or email – TerryBastyan@gilbertstephens.co.uk<\/p>\n

What Will Happen Next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will\u00a0either send you a letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint or contact you by phone in order to discuss the situation.\u00a0\u00a0This will usually be undertaken by our Client Care Manager. If necessary,\u00a0we will ask for further details relating to your complaint.\u00a0\u00a0Our aim is contact you within three working days of receiving your complaint.<\/p>\n

Very often concerns about our service are due to a misunderstanding of some type.\u00a0 Often where this is the case your concerns will be completely addressed during our initial contact with you.<\/p>\n

Where this is not the case, or it is evident from the nature of the problem that a more formal approach is necessary and further investigations are required, your complaint will be recorded in our central register and we will then start to investigate your complaint.\u00a0This will normally involve the following steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Client Care Manager will ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to him concerning your complaint.\u00a0 Our aim is to ensure this is done within ten working days.<\/li>\n
  2. He will then examine the reply and the information in your file and undertake whatever additional research is required. Depending upon the complexity of the issues involved, this may take up to seven working days from the date he received the file and the reply from the member of staff to your complaint.<\/li>\n
  3. You will then be sent a reply to your complaint.\u00a0Where possible this will include suggestions for resolving the matter.\u00a0 We will aim to do this within seven working days of completing the investigation.\u00a0 We will try our very best to ensure you are satisfied with our response and the manner in which we have dealt with your complaint.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again.\u00a0We will then arrange to review our decision.\u00a0This may include one of the following:<\/p>\n