Examples of compensation for distress and inconvenience

The examples below will give you an indication of the amount of compensation you might receive

Modest

80% of these cases result in compensation of up to £250.

Example 1

Mr A instructed a solicitor to represent him in appealing his criminal conviction. The solicitor failed to respond to two letters in which Mr A asked whether the solicitor had seen certain documents which he considered to be crucial to his appeal.

The solicitor replied to Mr A's letters but did not tell him whether or not they had seen these documents. The solicitor thought there was enough evidence for them to decide whether the appeal was likely to be successful and they didn't need any other documents. They should have answered the points raised in Mr A's letters.

We awarded �100 for distress and inconvenience.

Example 2

A solicitor was acting for Mrs B in her divorce. Mrs B and her husband had agreed a consent order (an agreement on how money, property and so on would be split) but Mr B didn't keep to the order. The matter needed to go to court to decide what to do next. The solicitor told Mrs B about the hearing, but when she arrived at court, she found that the hearing had been adjourned (put on hold until another date).

We awarded Mrs B �150 to compensate her for the inconvenience and anxiety caused by going to court and finding that the hearing had been adjourned.

Example 3

Mr C instructed a solicitor when buying an apartment. The solicitor delayed in sending the stamp duty form to HM Land Registry and so a �100 penalty was due.

The solicitor agreed to pay the penalty and also pay �100 compensation. The solicitor then delayed paying the penalty and didn't pay the agreed compensation to Mr C.

We awarded Mr C �200 because the solicitor's delay in paying the agreed amount to Mr C increased his distress.

Example 4

Ms D and Ms E jointly instructed a solicitor when buying a house. The solicitor lost most of their file and when Ms D and Ms E complained, the solicitor took seven months to reply.

We felt that the loss of the file would have caused distress and inconvenience to Ms D and Ms E and that this would have been increased by the solicitor's long delay in replying to their complaint. We awarded Ms D and Ms E �250 each.

Significant

80% of these cases result in compensation of between between £200 and £500.

Example 1

A solicitor's firm acted for Mr A in a claim against his builders. The firm delayed in telling Mr A the solicitor dealing with his case had changed, they did not deal with his letter of complaint, and they didn't provide enough information about costs. In particular, the firm didn't keep Mr A up to date on how his costs were rising, and led him to believe that his barrister's fees would be �600 but then billed him for �1645.

We awarded Mr A compensation of �400 for significant distress and inconvenience, limited the solicitor's costs to their original estimate, and also said that Mr A only had to pay �600 for the barrister's fees.

Example 2

Mr B was the chairman of a company which instructed a solicitor to deal with landlord and tenant issues and an issue relating to buying a property. The solicitor

delayed in sending a letter explaining their charges
didn't provide updates of costs
delayed in sending a completion statement (a list of all the money that has to be paid before you can own the property)
took money for their costs from the firm's client account (an account containing money which the firm are holding on behalf of their clients) without sending Mr B a bill beforehand

We felt that the effect of taking the costs and the delay in sending the completion statement were minor, but that the issue of not keeping Mr B up to date with charges was more significant, and that compensation of �500 was appropriate.

Mr B's company was the solicitor's client and a company cannot suffer distress. But Mr B, as the chairman, had suffered inconvenience as a result of the solicitor's poor service. This interfered with his usual work for the company, and so the award was intended to compensate the company for this disruption and not Mr B personally.

Find out more on what we can do to help with complaints from companies or charities

Example 3

Mrs S instructed a solicitor to remove her husband's name from the title deeds to her property, and to carry out a re-mortgage. The solicitor told her that there would be no stamp duty for this matter. After the matter was completed, Mrs S found that the work had not been done properly, and she had to pay �935.77 to a new solicitor to put things right. She also had to pay stamp duty of �935.

We decided that if Mrs S had been given the correct advice about stamp duty, she would still have had to go ahead with the work, and would always have had to pay this.

However, Mrs S suffered shock and distress when she found out she had to pay the stamp duty, and when she found that the work had not been done properly. We awarded her �500 compensation and told the solicitor to pay the �935.77 costs of putting the work right.

Example 4

While in prison, Mr E instructed a solicitor about getting contact with his children. The solicitor

didn't progress the application for public funding (public funding is provided by the Legal Services Commission to people who are on a low income to help them pay for their case)
didn't keep Mr E up to date about what was going on
didn't reply to Mr E's letter of complaint for 10 weeks

Mr E's distress was made worse by the fact that as a prisoner, he could not call in to see the solicitor to chase up progress. He was left in the dark for a very long time with no reply to requests for information. We awarded �600 compensation.

Serious

80% of these cases result in compensation of between £500 and £1,000.

Example 1

A solicitor acted for Mrs A in buying a house. The service was poor in many ways. The solicitor

failed to tell Mrs A what the costs would be
delayed dealing with the purchase for 14 months and failed to register it at HM Land Registry
failed to reply to Mrs A's letters
failed to send a bill
failed to deal with Mrs A's complaint

We felt that Mrs A had suffered serious distress and inconvenience and awarded her �750 compensation.

We also told the solicitors to pay �221.54 for a new solicitor to put things right, and �40 for interest on Mrs A's money which the solicitor had held.

Example 2

Mrs B's husband had died and she and the solicitor were the executors of the estate (the person appointed to carry out the instructions of the person who has died).

The solicitor didn't meet with Mrs B in the beginning, and didn't tell her about costs, or what work was involved. Mrs B was concerned and confused throughout the time the solicitor was acting for her, at what was already an upsetting time.

The solicitor made slow progress and they did not take the initiative when dealing with the estate. The solicitor took a year to follow one of the instructions of the will, which was to tell Mr B's ex-wife about his death. In the end Mrs B had to do this herself.

The solicitor had acknowledged some of their poor service before Mrs B complained to us, and had already greatly reduced the bill. We felt that compensation of �750 was the right amount in these circumstances.

Example 3

Mrs C instructed a solicitor about her divorce and related financial matters. The solicitor provided an extremely poor service, mainly relating to costs. The solicitor gave Mrs C misleading and inaccurate information about their charges and how much money they would need to hold towards costs. They did not assess whether the cost of the financial proceedings would be covered if Mrs C won her case, so Mrs C had no real idea about whether it was worth carrying on with the case.

Only three days before a court hearing, the solicitor asked Mrs C for a large amount of money for a barrister's fees and put inappropriate pressure on her to find this money at very short notice. When Mrs C changed solicitor, the original firm continued to do work on her file, and billed her for this work. Mrs C's complaint about all of this was not taken seriously by the firm, who offered her �170 compensation.

We felt that �1000 was appropriate compensation for the serious distress and inconvenience suffered by Mrs C. Also, Mrs C should not have had to pay for work done after she had changed solicitor. We reduced the bill by 15% (�2233.08).

Extremely serious

80% of these cases result in awards of more than �1,000.

This category relates to compensation from �1000 to �15,000. However, most awards at the higher end of this scale would be for financial effects and, as you can see from the examples below, most awards for distress and inconvenience are at the bottom end of the scale.

Example 1

A solicitors' firm acted for Mrs A on the financial side of her divorce. Mrs A was not happy that the firm didn't tell her that the person dealing with her case had left and also that the firm did not deal properly with her complaint. Her main cause for concern was the information she was given about the costs of the case. The firm took a long time to tell Mrs A what her final costs would be, and held �3000 of her money to cover costs. By the time we considered the complaint, Mrs A still did not know if she would be getting any of that �3000 back.

We awarded Mrs A �1200 compensation for the very serious distress and inconvenience she had experienced. For two years Mrs A had been left in the dark about what was going on, and the firm's failure to respond to her complaints made her worry and upset worse. Mrs A was left without any clear idea of how the financial arrangements would be made and what the costs would be.

We decided that �1200 compensation was appropriate to reflect the extremely serious effect this had on Mrs A.

We couldn't make the firm repay the �3000 at this stage because there were ongoing discussions with the Legal Services Commission, which needed to approve the amount. We could re-open the file and look at this issue separately, once the discussions were over.

Example 2

Mr B got a solicitor to deal with his personal-injury claim. He paid for the case through a 'no win, no fee' agreement with an insurance policy. This would usually mean a client's costs are covered by the policy.

The solicitor failed to tell Mr B that the insurance policy wouldn't cover him for making an application to the court to ask for documents from the other side. Mr B had to pay the �15,000 costs of the court application himself. The solicitor always knew that Mr B would have to pay these costs, whether he won or lost, and also that this wouldn't be covered by the policy.

Mr B was not happy about this, and changed solicitor. The original solicitor said that as a result, he had ended the 'no win, no fee' agreement, and had to pay all of their costs. We felt it was not reasonable for the solicitor to say that Mr B ended the 'no win, no fee' agreement, and to then send him a bill. To make matters worse, the solicitor delayed sending Mr B's file to him until he had paid the bill.

Mr B had had a long period of illness. He had experienced extra distress and inconvenience over a two-year period because of the poor service, which had had a marked effect on him. We felt the consequences of the poor service were extremely serious and awarded �2000 compensation.

Example 3

Mrs C asked a solicitor to deal with the financial side of her divorce and set up a trust to provide enough money to pay for care for her disabled daughter. Over the seven months the solicitor acted for Mrs C, nothing was done to set up the trust, and the solicitor didn't reply to her letters, including her letter of complaint.

The solicitor sent �6500 of Mrs C's money to the Legal Services Commission to cover her potential costs of about �1300 for her divorce. Six years later the solicitor had still not prepared a bill to allow the Legal Services Commission to assess the costs and release the remaining money to Mrs C.

Mrs C had been deprived of at least �5000 of her own money because of the solicitor's delay in sending her a bill. In fact, we decided that the solicitor had done no work of any value for Mrs C, and had had long enough to bill her, so they should not charge any costs at all.

Mrs C suffered extremely serious distress and inconvenience as a result of the solicitor not following her simple instructions. She was worried that the delay in setting up the trust and getting the �5000 from the Legal Services Commission could affect her daughter's care. The solicitor's failure to deal with her complaint made matters worse. Compensation of �2500 was justified.

We also asked the Solicitors Regulation Authority to consider the solicitor's conduct in not co-operating with our investigation.