Regulatory Information
Last Updated: May 20, 2023
Core Offerings
Neathouse Partners Ltd is dedicated to offering bespoke HR consultancy, Employment Law Advice, Employment Tribunal Support and Representation to SMEs across the UK. We employ a team of solicitors, each holding a practising certificate and individually regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Legal Consultancy Model and The SRA Standards and Regulations 2019
The legal consultancy model we embrace stems from the SRA Standards and Regulations 2019, which were orchestrated to allow a more flexible and responsive regulatory framework. These regulations have facilitated the provision of legal services from within unregulated entities, giving birth to our ‘legal consultancy’ model. This model is designed to fuel innovation, enhance competition, and uplift standards in the unregulated sector. It’s essential to clarify that while our solicitors are individually SRA-regulated, Neathouse Partners Ltd is not a law firm and, therefore, is not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Being Unregulated and Cost Efficiency
Our unregulated status significantly reduces our compliance obligations, which, in turn, lowers our overhead costs. These savings are passed on to our clients, enabling us to offer premium legal services at a fraction of the conventional costs offered by traditional law firms.
Reserved and Unreserved Activities
Reserved legal activities are specific aspects of legal work that require regulation by a legal authority, encompassing areas like the right to represent clients in court, conduct litigation, transfer land and property, and administer oaths among others. Unreserved legal activities are aspects of legal work that do not require regulation by a legal authority, and, thus can be carried out by unregulated entities.
Our solicitors at Neathouse Partners Ltd do not carry out any reserved activities. Instead, they focus on unreserved legal activities revolving around employment law and HR advice. This encompasses guidance on employment contracts, employee rights, disciplinary procedures, other HR-related matters, and Employment Tribunal support/representation, offering a comprehensive service to manage the legal aspects of human resource management for our clients.
Professional Ethics and Compliance
All of our solicitors are bound by the SRA Principles and the SRA Code of Conduct.
This means they are required to adhere to the highest professional ethics and standards as well as acting with honesty, integrity, and in the best interests of clients. They are also required to undertake continued professional learning and development. This ensures that our team keep their understanding of legal, ethical and regulatory obligations up to date, thereby delivering services that are both current and compliant.
Financial Integrity
In adherence to SRA regulations, our solicitors are prohibited from holding client money in personal account. Neathouse Partners Ltd also does not operate a client account and does not hold any client money in any transactional matters. This underscores our commitment to the utmost financial integrity in all our dealings.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
As we are not regulated by the SRA , Neathouse Partners is not required to have professional indemnity insurance that meets the SRA’s minimum terms and condition.
That said, Neathouse Partners Ltd does maintain professional indemnity insurance, ensuring a layer of protection for the legal work undertaken by our solicitors. This arrangement alleviates the need for our solicitors to hold personal professional indemnity insurance, thus highlighting our firm’s dedication to safeguarding our clients’ interests. Details about our coverage can be provided upon request.
Solicitors Compensation Fund
The Solicitors Compensation Fund does not apply to Neathouse Partners due to our unregulated status. As Neathouse Partners Ltd is not authorised and not regulated by the SRA, our clients will not be eligible/entitled to claim under the SRA Compensation Fund, which is available to clients of regulated firms where their money has been stolen, misappropriated or otherwise not properly accounted for, or in certain other limited circumstances. Considering we do not hold any client money in any transactional matters, this is not a pertinent risk to our clients.
Confidentiality
Client confidentiality is paramount. We uphold strict data protection standards and ensure all client information is kept private and secure.
Costs and Complaints Procedure
We work with our clients on a project and fixed-fee basis for the non-reserved legal services provided through our Company. As our solicitors only provide non-reserved legal services to the public from an unregulated entity (Neathouse Partners Ltd), we are not required to publish price and service information under the SRA Transparency Rules.
We have a robust complaints handling process. If any issue arises, clients can initiate complaints via email to info@neathousepartners.com. Should a complaint not be satisfactorily resolved within eight weeks, then clients have the right to escalate the issue to the Legal Ombudsman.
Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0300 555 0333
Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk