Regulation

General complaints

If you would like to talk to us about how we could improve our service to you, or if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving, in the first instance please contact Rob Beale.

We will consider carefully any complaint you may make about our work as soon as we receive it and we will do all we can to resolve it.  We will acknowledge within five business days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with it within eight weeks.

Probate regulation, ICAEW & legal ombudsman

If your complaint is regarding work undertaken for Probate in the first instance, please contact Rob Beale.

We will consider carefully any complaint you may make about our work in this engagement as soon as we receive it and we will do all we can to resolve it. We will acknowledge your letter within five business days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with it within eight weeks. As this service is defined as being a legal service under ICAEW guidelines, it is under the jurisdiction of the Legal Ombudsman. Accordingly if we do not deal with your complaint in this time, or if you are unhappy with our response, you may of course take up the matter with the Legal Ombudsman.

The Legal Ombudsman’s ability to deal with your complaint is dependent on the following factors;

1. you must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than:

six years from the act/omission; or three years from when you should reasonably have known  there was cause for complaint; and

2. you must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of our  written response.

Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman

T: 0300 555 0333

E: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ

You are also have a right to complain to the ICAEW, details of which can be found at https://www.icaew.com/about-icaew/regulation-and-the-public-interest/complaints-process/make-a-complaint.

Details of our probate accreditation can be viewed at icaew.com/probate under reference number C005394193.

Regulatory information

In the unlikely event that we cannot meet our liabilities to you, you may be able to seek a grant from ICAEW’s Probate Compensation Scheme. Generally, applications for a grant must be made to ICAEW within 12 months of the time you became aware, or reasonably ought to have become aware, of the loss.

Further information about the scheme and the circumstances in which grants may be made is available on ICAEW’s website: www.icaew.com/probate.

In accordance with the disclosure requirements of The Provisions of the Services Regulations 2009, we are required to hold professional indemnity insurance.  We have received dispensation from ICAEW in relation to our insurance arrangements and there are separate policies held for activities authorised and/or regulated by the ICAEW and the FCA. Our professional indemnity insurer for activities authorised and/or regulated by the ICAEW is Everest Insurance (Ireland) DAC, Ascot Syndicate 1414 @ Lloyd’s issued through Burns & Wilcox Limited . The territorial coverage is worldwide, excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States of America or Canada.  Our FCA professional indemnity insurer is AmTrust Europe Ltd issued through Collegiate Management Services Ltd.

Independent financial advisers regulation & FCA

Morris Owen ceased providing independent advice as a firm of independent financial advisers with effect from the 28 June 2024, previously being regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by the Financial Conduct Authority in its conduct of Investment Business. Our FCA number concerning Investment Advice was 104961. 

How we handle complaints

We take great pride in the way that we have dealt with our clients for financial services purposes but accept that sometimes things do not go as well as we would hope. In the event that you should wish to register a formal complaint, please contact Rob Beale in writing at Morris Owen, 43-45 Devizes Road, Swindon SN1 4BG or by telephone on 01793 603900, explaining what the problem is.

On receipt, your complaint will be acknowledged, and you will receive a copy of our complaints handling procedure.  The matter will then be investigated in line with that procedure and our findings will be reported to you in writing.

If you cannot reach agreement with us, you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, subject to certain time limits, unless the complainant is a business with turnover over €2 million or at least ten employees, or a charity/trust with income/assets over £1 million.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent service in the UK for settling disputes between businesses providing financial services & their clients. Their web site address is:https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/default.htm

Full details of how they can be contacted are shown on their web site, whilst you will also be provided with full details when we send to you our written conclusions from our investigation of your complaint.

Compensation

If you make a valid claim against the firm in respect of investments that we have arranged you may be entitled to redress. In the unlikely event that we cannot meet any liabilities to you, you may be able to claim compensation under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. English law will govern the provisions of the services covered by these statements and the English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute.

Tax services regulation 

If your complaint is regarding work undertaken for tax services, in the first instance, please contact Rob Beale.

We will consider carefully any complaint you may make about our work in this engagement as soon as we receive it and we will do all we can to resolve it. We will acknowledge your letter within five business days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with it within eight weeks.  Complaints to the Chartered Institute of Taxation are dealt with by the TDB.  Accordingly, if we do not deal with your complaint in this time, or if you are unhappy with our response, you may of course take up the matter with TDB, an independent body that runs the complaints and disciplinary scheme for the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT).

Their website address is:

https://tax-board.org.uk/