County Costs Consultants Ltd: Complaints Handling Procedure

Date: 28 July 2026

Our complaints policy

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 improve our standards.

You should not feel obliged to use this formal complaints procedure – you may tell us about a problem informally and we will do our best to put things right – but if you do find yourself in the position of wishing to raise a formal complaint with us then please follow the steps below.

We will never charge you for the time it takes us to handle your complaint.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. We may ask you to put details of

your complaint in writing to enable us to investigate and respond.

How to complain

You can make a complaint either in writing or by telephone by contacting the following people:

By telephone: Louise Roberts, Office Manager 0844 579 6885

In writing: Louise Roberts, County Cost Consultants Ltd, Avenue HQ Mann Island, 17 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP or by email louise@countycosts.co.uk

Please tell us who or what the complaint is about and when the problem happened or when the

problem started if it is still ongoing, and how you would like us to communicate with you (by telephone, letter or email).

When we receive a complaint, whether in writing or not, we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within 5 days of us receiving the complaint enclosing a copy of this procedure.

What will happen next?

1. If you request a copy of our complaints procedure, we will send you a copy of our complaints procedure within 5 working days and advise you of the person to contact with details of any complaint

Upon receipt of your complaint

1.     We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a further copy of this procedure, if appropriate.

2.     We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Complaints officer, Louise Roberts, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

3.     Mr Clapp will then respond with either a call or try to resolve your complaint or, alternatively, a written reply to your complaint including suggestions for resolving the matter and hopefully resolve your complaint within eight weeks of when you first complained to us.  

4.     If you are not satisfied, you may be able to raise your complaint with any professional body of whom the Costs Draftsman/Lawyer is a member. We will advise you whether his option is available to you when we send you our final decision.

The Legal Ombudsman

If we have been unable to put things right, or we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman.  The Legal Ombudsman investigates problems about poor service from lawyers.

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 not later than:

•      one year from the date of the act or omission you are complaining about; or

•      one year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted using the following details:

Address: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB)

Individual Costs Lawyers who work for us are regulated by the CLSB and the CLSB can investigate complaints about those Costs Lawyers’ professional conduct. If you wish to complain about a Costs Lawyer’s conduct, you should contact the CLSB promptly.

The CLSB will consider complaints made within 12 months of the date on which the matters giving rise to the complaint occurred or the date on which the complainant first became aware that they had grounds for the complaint. This period can be extended in exceptional circumstances. The CLSB will usually expect you to give us a chance to resolve your complaint first.

The CLSB can be contacted using the following details:

Address: PO Box 4336, Manchester, M61 0BW

Telephone: 0161 956 8969

Email: enquiries@clsb.info

Website: www.clsb.info