Fees & Complaints
Fee information & Complaints Process
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Fees
Our Firm’s fees are charged upon an hourly rate based upon which fee earner from our team has conducted work on your matter, and what Grade the fee ear ner is. Our Firm’s fees are calculated by reference to the time spent by our fee earners in respect of any work which they do on your behalf. This will include preparation for, attendance at and follow up from meetings, reading and working on documents, correspondence, including emails and time spent travelling from the office when this is necessary.
Fee Earners hourly rates
Routine Telephone calls, letters and emails
We charge for all routine telephone calls. This includes routine telephone calls made out by our Firm and also routine telephone calls received by our Firm. This also includes routine telephone calls that you make to our Firm or routine telephone calls that we may make to you. Routine Telephone calls are charged at one tenth of the hourly rate. For example, if the hourly rate is £217.00 per hour, telephone calls are charged at one tenth of the hourly rate, which is charged at
£21.70
per telephone call.
We also charge for all routine letters and routine emails that are written by our Firm, and these are charged at one tenth of the hourly rate as described in this letter. We also charge for routine letters and routine emails received by our Firm at one tenth of the hourly rate. This includes any routine letters or routine emails we may receive from you or from third parties are also charged at one tenth of the hourly rate.
Our fee for routine letters and routine emails is one tenth of the hourly rate. Thus, again if the hourly rate is £217.00 per hour, all letters and emails are charged at one tenth of the hourly rate, which is charged at £21.70 per letter and email. However, some letters, emails or telephone calls may be charged on the hourly rate, if they are not routine letters, telephone calls or emails, such as detailed letters of claim or detailed letters requiring significant time to be spent on the drafting, or require more than 6 minutes of time being spent on each letter, telephone call or email.
Our hourly rates and rates for telephone calls, letters and emails are reviewed every six months and if there is any change to the fee structure we will endeavour to make you aware of the change. These hourly rates have to be reviewed every six months to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
We wish to inform you that all of our fees, including the hourly rates, telephone and letter fees will have VAT
added to it at the rate of 20%. Thus, if the hourly rate is £217.00 per hour, VAT will be added to this figure at the rate of
20%, which means you will be charged the sum of
£260.40 per hour. Also, telephone calls and letters charged at, for example,
£21.70 per telephone call and letter, which is one tenth of the hourly rate of
£217.00, will also have VAT at the rate of
20% added to the figure. Thus, you will be charged the sum of
£26.04 per telephone call and letter.
Employment tribunal fees
Our Firm’s fees for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal
Factors that could make a case more complex:
- If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
- Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
- Making or defending a costs application
- Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
- The number of witnesses and documents
- If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
- Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees and Counsel (Barrister) fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. We would obtain Counsel's fees estimated for Tribunal Hearings, prior to instructing Counsel, and these will be additional costs that you will have to pay. Counsel's fees are usually estimated between £1,000 + VAT to £3,000 + VAT per day (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Hearing (including preparation).
Key stages
The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:
- Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
- Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
- Preparing claim or response
- Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
- Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
- Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
- Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
- Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
- Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
- Preparing bundle of documents
- Reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements
- Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
- Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel
The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced.
How long will my matter take?
The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 1 to 3 months. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 6 months to 1 year. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.
Debt recovery fees
Our pricing for Debt Recovery matters
Our Firm’s fees are charged upon an hourly rate basis. Therefore, it is not possible to give an exact figure in terms of what the fees for a matter may be. However, the range of fees can found below.
Debt Recovery Fees
Factors that could make a case more complex:
- If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
- Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
- Making or defending a costs application
- Complex preliminary issues
- The number of witnesses and documents
- The value of the claim
- The complexity of issues in the claim
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees and Counsel (Barrister) fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. We would obtain Counsel's fees estimated for Tribunal Hearings, prior to instructing Counsel, and these will be additional costs that you will have to pay. Counsel's fees are usually estimated between £1,000 + VAT to £3,000 + VAT per day (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Hearing (including preparation).
Key stages
The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:
- Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
- Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
- Preparing claim or response
- Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
- Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
- Preparing or considering a schedule of loss
- Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
- Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
- Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
- Preparing bundle of documents
- Reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements
- Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
- Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel
The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced.
How long will my matter take?
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees and Counsel (Barrister) fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. We would obtain Counsel's fees estimated for Tribunal Hearings, prior to instructing Counsel, and these will be additional costs that you will have to pay. Counsel's fees are usually estimated between £1,000 + VAT to £3,000 + VAT per day (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Hearing (including preparation).
Our Firm’s Complaints Process
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we provided, then you should inform our Firm immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you are still not satisfied with the matter, you matter up with Mr Salmaan Islam (Solicitor) by way of a formal complaint.
If you are still not satisfied, you will have an opportunity to take up the matter with the Legal Ombudsman whose address is PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ. Finally, we aim to offer all our clients a friendly and efficient service and understand that you will want to know the basis on which we act for you.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our office for further assistance.
Please note, that it is often the case that we may need to instruct third parties in your case, such as Expert Witnesses and Counsel (Barrister). If you have any complaint about the service, or any other matter, regarding the third parties instructed in your case, please do not hesitate to inform our Firm of the same. We can then provide you with details of the third party and provide information to you on how to complain against the same.
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.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority
What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint
and
- No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
- No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for
complaint.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them:
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call:
0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.
Email:
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Expert legal services in Romford, Essex
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For expert legal assistance in employment law claims, family disputes and civil litigation, call North Ford Solicitors in Romford, Essex