Client Care

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our services.

If you are not happy with the way in which your case is dealt with then in the first instance, where applicable, you should speak to your caseworker/solicitor.

If you are not satisfied with their response, or you have not yet been allocated a caseworker/solicitor, please contact us with the details of your complaint. Complaints should be made in writing setting out the details of your complaint. You can ask someone else to write it for you but you must sign it. If you are unable to make your complaint in writing we will take details of your complaint over the phone or arrange a meeting to take details of your complaint. Please address your complaint to the Director, Mary Ward Legal Centre, 10 Great Turnstile, WC1V 7JU. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three working days of receiving it.

The Director will normally investigate the complaint. If the complaint is against the Director it will be passed to the Warden of the Mary Ward Settlement. You will be sent a written reply to your complaint, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us and give us the reasons. We will arrange for the Warden of the Mary Ward Settlement to review the decision. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

Finally, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us and give us the reasons. We will arrange for a member of the Board of Trustees to review the decision. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

Legal Ombudsman and Financial Ombudsman: If you are still not satisfied, and your complaint is about one of our solicitors, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman. Their details are Legal Ombudsman, PO PO Box 6167,Slough,SL1 0EH, www.legalombudsman.org.uk, telephone 0300 555 0333.

If your complaint is about the debt advice you received, you may also complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can contact the FOS on 0300 1239 123 or 0800 023 4567 or by email at complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Ombudsman time limits:

Your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final decision on your complaint.

Your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final decision on your complaint and no later than one year from the act or omission you are complaining about, or if the problem you are complaining about occurred more than one year ago, within one year of becoming aware of the problem. They will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness occurred before 6 October 2010.

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