ETAS Direct Franchises were formed with the specific purpose of offering potential customers a comprehensive employment law service of the highest quality at affordable prices. Each Franchise is a separate company operating the ETAS Direct system of work (see Legal Status). ETAS Direct franchises offer a wide variety of services to both employees and employers in the complex and frequently changing area of employment legislation. ETAS Direct Employment Law Advisers have considerable personal experience in Employment Law and Industrial Relations. They are fully supported by specialist Employment Law barristers. ETAS Direct Franchises are authorised to instruct barristers by the Bar Council. ETAS Direct Franchises can offer its services to clients at very competitive rates. ETAS Direct Franchises are rapidly expanding around the country. Our branch offices are springing up across the UK and operate under strict franchise arrangements to ensure the highest standards of service are maintained. We are also subject to the requirements of the Bar Council when instructing barristers.

"NO WIN, NO FEE" - (For EMPLOYEE Clients Only) - ETAS Direct Franchisees can offer "No Win No Fee" funding agreements. These agreements do not generally include disbursements,( Medical or Barristers fees if and when instructed on your behalf). All potential "No Win No, Fee" claims are risk assessed by us and or where necessary, a barrister.

LEGAL EXPENSES INSURANCE - ETAS Direct Franchisees will take on insured clients and strongly suggest you look at your various insurance policies, after you have spoken to us. (e.g household and contents, medical/health and even motor insurance policies). Most insurers are happy to instruct ETAS Direct Franchisees on your behalf if you want the insurer to do so.

TRADE UNIONS - If you are member of a Trade Union in general they will pay your legal costs and you are again strongly advised to contact your local Union branch office in the first instance.

PRIVATE FUNDING - ETAS Direct Franchisees can offer their services to clients who prefer to pay on an hourly rate basis for the work carried out. Although each Franchisee is free to negotiate hourly rates, in general such rates are significantly lower than most competitors, just ring us get a quote and compare us.

If you require more information about funding arrangments please contact your local ETAS
Direct Franchisee.

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 to maintain and improve our standards.

OUR COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE.

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. If we have to change any of the timescales set out below we will let you know.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details. We may suggest that we meet to clarify any details.

2. We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint and investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps.

• If we acted for you, we will consider your complaint again. We will then send you our detailed reply or invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter.
• If someone else acted for you, we will ask them to give us their reply to your complaint. We will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. We may also speak to the person who acted for you.
• We may ask another independent ETAS DIRECT FRANCHISEE to investigate your complaint and report to us.
• We will then write inviting you to meet us and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.

3. At this stage We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you. We would aim to be in a position to be able to meet with you within 28 days of first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write fully to you setting out our views on the situation and any redress.
4. Within two days of the meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision within the next 21 days. This may happen in one of the following ways.

• We will review the decision ourself.
• We will arrange for someone who is not connected with the complaint to review our decision.
• We will ask our Franchisor THE EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL ADVOCACY SERVICE Ltd to review your complaint. This may take longer than 10 days in which case we will let you know how long this process will take.
• We will in certain circumstances only and at our discretion invite you to agree to independent mediation. This again may take longer than 10 days and we will do our best to let you know how long this will take.

6. We will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We will also give you the name and address of the Office for the Supervision of our procedures the Claims Regulator the Ministry of Justice. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact them about your complaint, but we very much hope that this will not be necessary.