This guidance reflects our alignment with the Legal Services Board’s expectations in its statement of policy on empowering consumers. It will help you to understand your obligations under the Legal Services Regulations and communicate effectively with prospective and current clients about prices, range of services, quality of service, how to raise a complaint and redress, regulatory protections and your ICAEW accreditation, and your diversity monitoring results.
Supporting you and your clients
As well as supporting you to comply with the Legal Services Regulations, this guidance provides best practice tips and resources that will help you to build stronger client relationships, improve client satisfaction, and showcase your commitment to service quality.
Example templates for presenting transparent regulatory information, complaints, and pricing information are also included.
Use our resources and consumer hub to ensure your communications with your clients are clear, accessible, and consumer-focused.
Who this guidance applies to
This guidance applies to ICAEW-accredited probate firms. If your firm provides bundled services, such as accountancy with probate and oaths and/or will writing, ensure these transparency standards cover the entire bundle for clarity and consistency.
Your obligations
Transparency around pricing, services and complaints handling are regulatory requirements and crucial to empowering consumers and ensuring informed consumer choice. ICAEW probate firms must publish:
- total fees or estimates of the likely fees for services that you provide;
- the basis upon which fees are charged;
- a description of services you provide with key stages;
- likely timescales for different services;
- details of your firm’s complaints procedure and how and when consumers can complain to ICAEW and/or the Legal Ombudsman;
- details of ICAEW’s Legal Services Compensation Scheme; and
- a summary of the results of your most recent diversity monitoring survey.
Our Quality Assurance Department will assess your compliance during monitoring reviews. Use our self-assessment checklist at the end of this guidance to evaluate whether you are meeting the requirements – or even going beyond them.
Price information
Clear pricing helps to dispel common misconceptions around probate and oaths costs and showcases the value of using a chartered accountant for legal services. Make sure your price information is prominently displayed on your website or if you don’t have a website, on your marketing material.
Top tips
- Ensure all price and service information is clear, accurate, and up to date.
- Make pricing prominent – not buried in footnotes.
- Help clients understand and manage costs from the start.
- Keep clients updated if costs change.
- Offer cost-saving options or alternative fee structures where appropriate.
- Offer downloadable PDFs or printable versions of your costs.
- Help clients understand how fees could affect estate distribution or executor duties.
Service information
You should make it clear to clients which services are included in your fee, and which are not. Outline any services typically associated with the service that are not included, or which may attract an additional cost.
Firms should provide a clear description in their engagement letters of the services included in the price, key stages in the matter and estimated timescales.
Top tips
- Use plain English to explain services and timelines.
- Personalise letters and tailor to each client.
- Demystify any legal jargon and signpost guidance where appropriate.
- Break down bundled services so clients can understand what’s included.
- Provide a visual “what’s included” checklist on your website.
- Include short bios or team profiles on websites to highlight staff experience.
- Offer flexible, unbundled services where appropriate to promote choice.
- Adapt the format of engagement letters for vulnerable clients.
- Invite clients to contact you if they are unsure about any part of the engagement.
- Include a “key facts” summary or timeline in engagement letters.
Complaints and redress
It is essential for consumers to understand the procedures for raising concerns and the available avenues for redress. Transparency in complaint processes fosters trust and accountability.
Top tips
- Make your complaints policy easy to find online.
- Be prepared to offer your procedures in alternative formats.
- Include frequently asked questions on how to escalate a complaint.
- Reassure clients that complaints won’t affect how their matter is handled.
- Use plain language and avoid legal jargon.
- Publish a link to ICAEW’s complaints information page
- Publish information about ICAEW’s Legal Services Compensation Scheme
Regulatory information
Clear regulatory information builds credibility and reinforces the protection consumers receive when using a regulated provider. To enhance consumer confidence, firms should follow our guidance and recommendations on their website.
Top tips
- Link to ICAEW’s legal services register
- Link to ICAEW’s consumer hub
- Use the ICAEW probate or probate and oaths accredited firm logo on your homepage.
- Include a short regulatory statement.
Service quality and consumer feedback
Gathering feedback gives you valuable insight into your clients’ experiences and helps identify opportunities to improve your services. Sharing this feedback can strengthen client relationships, build trust, and support transparency by making it easier for consumers to compare legal service providers and make informed choices.
Top tips
- Ask for feedback soon after the engagement ends.
- Offer multiple feedback methods (eg, online, phone, paper).
- Reassure clients that their feedback will help improve services.
- Be transparent about how you use their feedback.
- Reply promptly to all reviews.
- Regularly evaluate complaints to identify any common issues.
- Engage with independent feedback platforms.
- Encourage clients to respond to ICAEW’s client survey
Templates
These templates are resources to help you display transparent information on your website. They are provided as illustrative examples designed to support firms to meet transparency requirements. They should be tailored to reflect your firm’s specific services, processes and pricing structures.
Include detailed, practical information to help consumers make informed choices and better understand what to expect from your services.
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Template A: Example customer satisfaction survey
This is an example of a customer satisfaction survey. Customer surveys are useful business tools, inviting candid feedback on the services you offer to shape and build your portfolio. It’s also strongly encouraged by the Legal Services Board in its aim to provide choice in the marketplace and empower consumers in keeping with its statement of policy on empowering consumers
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Template B: Example website template for probate services
This example provides website headings and descriptions, showing how to present the information required under paragraph 2.7 (u) of the Legal Services Regulations. It can be adjusted according to your firm’s size, fee structure, services and requirements.
This information should be displayed prominently on your website. If your firm does not have a website, you must provide this information in your marketing materials.
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Template C: Example complaints procedure for website
This is an example of how to include a complaints procedure on your website.
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Template D: Example price information for websites or marketing materials
This is an example of how to publish price information on your website or in your marketing materials.
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Template E: Example price summary for bundled services
This template is optional, and the services listed are neither exhaustive nor recommended as package offerings for your firm.
Transparency self-assessment checklist
Use this interactive checklist to assess whether your firm is currently complying with ICAEW’s requirements and whether you are also meeting the best practice standards recommended in this guidance. The checklist differentiates between criteria that are regulatory requirements and best practice. Reflect on your results to assess your compliance, recognise what you’re doing well and if there are any areas needing improvement.
Actions and reflection
Reflect on your results and prioritise any actions that relate to mandatory requirements. Then focus on the best practice areas that could further improve your clients’ experience of your services. For further reflection consider the following questions.
- What surprised you about your results?
- Are there quick wins you can implement now?
- Which improvements could have the biggest impact on your clients?
- Do you need to review your policies, training, or website?
- How will you monitor improvements and keep them up to date?