GOLDMAN KNIGHTLEY LIMITED TRADING AS GOLDMAN KNIGHTLEY SOLICITORS
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS – Recovery of care costs
Our Firm’s policy encouraged by the Solicitors Regulation Authority is to explain from an early stage the terms upon which we act for you, the client. These terms are intended to apply to all works undertaken for you (now and in the future) unless otherwise agreed. In order for us to deal with your claim efficiently we would be obliged if you read the following carefully.
Objectives and Issues
We have been instructed by you to pursue a claim for recovery of care costs paid due to a failure by a Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate) to properly carry out a continuing healthcare assessment resulting in your relative having to pay for care costs themselves. We can advise that we will need to obtain documentation to substantiate the claim and if settlement of the case is not possible by negotiation, we may need to commence Court Proceedings.
Our Responsibilities
We shall take all reasonable steps to pursue the claim for compensation for costs already paid against the Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate) to include preparing any necessary correspondence and requesting that they investigate and provide the appropriate compensation for any failure to properly carry out a continuing healthcare assessment. We will also review all information provided in relation to the claim. We will provide representation with the NHS Commissioning Appeals Board where applicable.
Your Responsibilities
To co-operate fully with us in progressing the case, to provide prompt, honest and accurate instructions, to provide full disclosure of all information relevant to the case favourable or otherwise, to provide any documentation and information relevant to the case for example, all applicable documentation relating to any care assessments, to return promptly any Court documents subject to your agreement duly signed and to attend any Court Hearings, if required to attend to give evidence. In accordance with our internal client identification and verification procedures we are required to carry out client due diligence checks. If you have not already done so you are required to provide us with a copy of your passport or driving licence and proof of your address that is less than 3 months old. This may be by way of bank statement, utility bill or equivalent as detailed within the accompanying money laundering leaflet.
People Responsible For Your Work
Mrs Natasha Banjo, a Solicitor specialising in this area of work will be responsible for your case and if she is not available her secretary will be happy to take any messages for you. However, she may delegate under her supervision certain aspects of your case to other members within her team during the progression of your case. Mr Ayaaz Khan (Director and a Solicitor) will be responsible for the overall supervision of your case. We try hard to avoid changing the people who are handling your case, if this cannot be avoided, we will notify you promptly on who will be handling your case (and why the change was necessary) and we reserve the right to allocate other staff to your case where necessary.
Charges and Expenses
We must advise you that we have agreed to deal with your case(s) under a Damages-Based Agreement (copy enclosed), a type of ‘no win, no fee’ agreement, whereby on your claim being successful we will charge you a Fee of 35% plus VAT of any compensation recovered. By signing these Terms and Conditions you are confirming your agreement to the enclosed Damages Based Agreement and for us to act for you on this basis. We require that you promptly pay our fee, no later than 14 days after you receive compensation (if you are paid direct) or if you have no intention of accepting the offer and we recommend that you do so, 14 days after our recommendation.
Example of our fee: You receive compensation in the sum of £10,000.00 – the fee payable to us would be £3,500.00 plus £700.00 VAT totalling £4,200.00 leaving you with £5,800.00.
We must advise you that you have the option to pursue your claim for compensation on a private paying basis whereby you would pay solicitors an hourly fee for the time spent on your case. However, Goldman Knightley Solicitors do not operate these types or claims on a Private paying basis. If you wish to pursue your claim on this basis you will need to instruct another firm of solicitors. We must also advise you that you can pursue a claim yourself directly with the Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate). Please note that Goldman Knightley solicitors do not offer any guarantee about the outcome of your case but can confirm you will not be charged should there not be a successful outcome.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable if you are currently self-funding your care. If you are not currently self-funding your care but have been advised that you are not eligible for NHS continuing healthcare or that you are going to be responsible for your own care and related costs, then we may still be able to assist you but in those circumstances, we request that you refrain from signing these terms and conditions and contact us on 01204 563 533 to see how we are able to assist and to discuss details of the basis on which we would be able to act for you.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions you agree not to enter into any agreement with the Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate) without first consulting Goldman Knightley Solicitors. In the event legal proceedings are necessary we may not be able to continue to pursue your case by way of a Damages Based Agreement. We will inform you at an appropriate interval whether we believe legal proceedings are necessary and will advise you of the other forms and methods of progressing your case at that juncture.
Disbursements
We will initially make arrangements for the funding of the disbursements in your case, as appropriate however these at all times will remain your liability. Disbursements, as referred to above, are any payments we have to make to others to progress your case, for example, medical records release fees, medical expert fees, barrister’s fees and court fees, which inevitably have to be incurred from time to time to progress your case and in routine cases range typically between £50 to £500 each. By signing these terms and conditions you authorise us to deduct from any compensation you receive any such sums that have been paid by us in relation to disbursements throughout the progression of your claim. At this time, we estimate that the disbursements that we will have to incur in your case will amount to no more than £1500.00, however if this at any time changes, we will of course inform you of the same.
Confidentiality and External Audits
Our regulator the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), may request an audit of your file. We shall assume that you have no objections to your file being audited by any of the above parties unless you instruct us otherwise.
Equality and Diversity Limitation (Time period to make a claim)
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all our dealings with clients, third parties and employees
and are required to produce a written equality and diversity policy which we are able to provide to you on request.
Timescale
In the more straight forward cases we anticipate a settlement of your case within 12 to 18 months of your instructing us. However, if there are likely to be delays in the settlement of your case, we shall notify you of the reasons for any delays.
Limitation (Time period to make a claim)
In English Law pursuant to the Limitation Act 1980 with regards to pursuing your claim you have a period of 6 years from the date of your continuing healthcare assessment or 3 years from the date you became aware, or ought to have become aware that the continuing healthcare assessment was carried out incorrectly (known as the date of knowledge) within which to bring a claim and commence Court Proceedings failing which your claim will be “statute barred”, that is you will be out of time to pursue your claim thereafter and will not be able to recover any compensation. In terms of recovery of care costs paid the Government have introduced a law meaning that you cannot recover any care costs already paid prior to 31 March 2012.
Privacy and Data Protection
The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us. Any personal information submitted to us will be subject to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and any legislation enforced within the UK in order to comply with GDPR, unless required to do so by law or a professional body, we will not disclose any personal data to any other person or organisation without the required consent. We want to assure you that the claimant information will be properly managed, protected and respected. You can be assured any information you provide us will be used strictly in accordance with the terms laid out in this statement. This privacy statement explains how we collect and use the claimant personal information, what choices they have and other important information. You can find our full privacy on our website www.goldmanknightley.co.uk
Complaints Procedure
Whilst we expect that you will be satisfied with our work, if you feel that you have cause for criticism or complaint in respect of any aspect of the service provided by this firm to include a complaint about our bill, you are entitled to complain, and we would invite you to address your complaint initially, in writing, to Mr. Ayaaz Khan, (a Director) or by telephone for immediate consideration so that any appropriate action can be taken without delay. On receipt of your complaint we shall automatically invoke the firm’s Complaints Procedure which includes writing to you to notify you of how the complaint will be handled and within what timescales you will be given an initial or substantive response and thereafter we shall conduct an internal investigation handled by a senior member of the firm resulting in a full written response to you in compliance with the firm’s Complaints Procedure. On occasions, we may invite you to attend a meeting to explain the outcome of our investigation in more detail, in an effort to ensure that you will receive an adequate summary of the steps taken to resolve any problems. On concluding our investigations into your complaint, if you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman so long as the complaint is made within 6 months of you receiving our final response to your complaint and in any event within 12 months from when your complaint was first raised with us. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman via their website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by e-mail to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or in writing to P. O. Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ. A copy of the firm’s Complaints Procedure is available upon request from our offices and we shall handle any complaint promptly, fairly and effectively in accordance with the firm’s Complaints Procedure.
Legal Expenses Insurance Cover
You may have a legal expenses insurance policy which can be used by you to pursue your claim for recovery of care costs paid. This may be under a motor insurance policy/home insurance policy or any other relevant insurance policy you may have. Although you have advised us you have no such insurance policy in place, we would advise you to re-confirm this to be the case. If you do have the benefit of such an insurance policy, you should contact us immediately prior to signing and returning these terms and conditions as a Damages Based Agreement may not be the appropriate method of funding your case.
Your Authority For Us To Make Deductions From Your Compensation
By agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions of business, you authorise the Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate) against whom your claim is successful to release to us any compensation recovered on your behalf. You further authorise Goldman Knightley Solicitors on successfully pursuing your claim for compensation to deduct from your damages (“compensation”) sent to us the amount payable to us as referred to above in respect of the Damages Based Agreement along with the cost of all disbursements that have been incurred in your case.
DECLARATION
I confirm that I have read and understood these terms and conditions of business for Goldman Knightley Solicitors as set out in this document and my signature below is my agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions in relation to Goldman Knightley Solicitors acting for me in pursuing my claim for compensation against the Local Authority/Local Clinical Commissioning Group/Social Services Department/NHS Care Trust/NHS Continuing Care Department/District Nurse/ NHS Commissioning Board (as appropriate) in this matter. I understand that my continuing instructions in this matter will amount to acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.
Signed …………………………………………………… Print Name………………………………………………
Dated …………………………………………………..…
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Cancellation
You can cancel this contract within 14 days without any charge.
If you do decide to cancel you can do this by confirmation in writing, either by letter or email to info@goldmanknightley.co.uk or by telephone on 01204 563 533. A cancellation form should you wish to use it can be requested by phone or email or downloaded from our website.
If this agreement is cancelled when a reasonable offer of payment has been made, we will enforce our charges of 25% +VAT. Any disbursements that have been incurred after 14 days of the date of this contract will remain your liability.