Robson Laidler Grievance Handling Procedure

If you feel that the service we have provided you with has not met your expectations then it is important that you let us know. Please raise any concerns directly with your account manager in the first instance. Our aim will be to deal with your concerns as quickly as possible and without need for a formal complaints’ procedure, if that is possible. If you remain dissatisfied, then you will be sent our formal grievance form to complete and you can follow the steps below.

Step 1: Making a Formal Grievance

If you have a formal complaint or would like to raise a grievance, you should write to our Managing Director Nick Wilson who is responsible for service delivery on nwilson@robson-laidler.co.uk. Please clearly mark your letter ‘Formal Grievance / Complaint’ and outline the cause of your dissatisfaction and any action you would like us to take to remedy your concerns.

For ease you may also complete this Grievance Form.

Step 2: Grounds for Accepting a Grievance

A grievance will be accepted if it involves dissatisfaction or concerns regarding the services we have provided, the behaviour of our staff, or any other matter relating to our business conduct that may affect you as a stakeholder.

Your grievance will be acknowledged within 5 business days of submission and we will inform you of the name of the person who will look into your complaint. As a result of our ongoing commitment to ensuring excellent client care and quality of service, we might outsource step 2 of our complaints procedure to an Independent Complaints Handler. We believe that in some circumstances this can benefit our clients as it allows us to obtain an independent view on any complaints and gain constructive feedback on how our services can be improved.

Step 3: Investigation

A thorough review of the grievance will take place.

We will aim to provide you with an initial response within 20 business days.

Depending on the nature of your grievance, we may seek to resolve the issue through direct communication, corrective actions, or alternative measures that are mutually agreed upon. Our goal is to ensure that any valid concerns are addressed and resolved to your satisfaction.

We may contact you directly to discuss your complaint and request any further information from you to assist the investigation. For more information, please see our Privacy Notice

Step 4: Resolution

We aim to provide a final resolution or an update on the progress of your grievance within 40 business days.

The person investigating your complaint will provide you with an assessment report setting out their findings and any relevant recommendations in respect of the issues you have raised.

We will not charge you for our time spent dealing with the complaint.

If we need to change any of the timescales above, we will contact you to explain why.

Financial Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied, the next step is for you to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/) by one of the following methods:

Telephone: 0800 0234 567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

By post: Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange, London E14 9SR 

If you have a complaint which relates to financial services, when you have received our final response, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint for you. This is a free independent service for resolving disputes between customers and financial services institutions. You have the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman at the conclusion of our complaints process providing you do so within 6 months of the date of our final written response. If you do not refer your complaint within that 6 month period your complaint may not be accepted by the Financial Ombudsman. You may also lose your right to refer a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman if it is more than 6 years since the event of which you are complaining or 3 years since you should have realised that you had a possible complaint.

Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales

As members of the ICAEW we are committed to work with integrity and undertake work correctly and to the highest standards. If you feel we have fallen short of this then you can

complain to ICAEW.

Before you make a complaint, they will ask you if you have tried to resolve the issue(s) by following our grievance procedure above in the first instance.

If you find you are still unable to resolve the problem, or the nature of the issue(s), the ICAEW we are there to help.

Please follow the steps below to make a complaint to ICAEW:

We are committed to reviewing and improving our whistleblowing and grievance mechanisms regularly to ensure they are effective and provide adequate protection for those who raise concerns.

This policy will be communicated and reviewed annually.