Legal practices have much to gain from minimising and dealing effectively with complaints, including:
- Improved client care
- Increased client satisfaction
- Decreased risk of complaints
- Reduced risk of subsequent fines
- Less time spent dealing with complaints
Also, to comply with Chapter 1: Client Care of the SRA Handbook all legal practices must have a written procedure which ensures that complaints are dealt with promptly, fairly, openly and effectively.
The Complaints Handling Toolkit is designed to help practices implement best practice and meet their regulatory requirements. It provides draft policies, procedural checklists and other useful templates that you can use to supplement your existing complaints procedure or to create a new one. Here is a sample of just some of the templates you can access through the Complaints Handling Toolkit:
- Written complaints policy
- Written complaints procedural checklist
- Sample complaints form
- Letter acknowledging complaint
- Letter of apology
- Complaints training policy for staff
- Self-audit checklist
- Referral letter to the Legal Ombudsman
- Template annual complaints report
All of the templates are provided on the book's accompanying CD-ROM so you can customise them as needed.
