Can I make a complaint?

[RepealRepealRepeal]

DPS ex has cancelled a week of court ordered contact due to work conflicts. He's always told the court that he's flexible around contact, and would be willing to accommodate her work schedule so that he would have the DC rather than a childminder, but she doesn't want to do this, which is her choice and not part of the court order.

However, after years of cancellations for minor reasons, he now asks for alternatives to cancellations. As the notice of cancellation was sent through the solicitors, we replied to ours asking them to send our suggestions for alternatives, which should have started this weekend in order to make up the time lost. But they never replied, so we emailed again this week, and still no reply. Actually, I track my emails, so they're not only not replying, they haven't even bothered to read the emails.

DP keeps saying that when we were paying they were introduced in us, and now that we get legal aid, they're not.

Any idea what the next steps should be?

Anyone?

Tbh it sounds as though you need to pick up the phone. The email address is probably no longer in use, possibly due to the solicitor leaving the firm.

Your legal aid funding will have stopped at the end of the last case. All legal aid work runs at a loss. That means legal aid lawyers either have to cram in as many clients as possible, or the department gets closed down. Your former solicitor is almost definitely overworked. They cannot simply get involved on the basis of a couple of emails and respond on your behalf unless they are prepared to do it for free. Whilst it’s a bit off that they haven’t read it, they might be on holiday, or might have declined to send a read receipt (I always decline - it’s a privacy issue, and people expect an instant response when it’s been opened). A quick phone call to the solicitor’s secretary (if they have one) to enquire would be the way to go.

I always decline - it’s a privacy issue, and people expect an instant response when it’s been opened)

Hah! Not just me then.

I time all my replies to go at the end of the day too. Bloody email, it makes my job unmanageable, with people expecting to play email pingpong all day.

Are you in Scotland, OP? Precious little legal aid left South of the border.

Hah! Not just me then.

I just think it’s rude of the sender, isn’t it? And if you’re overworked it’s quite possible you have 50 things to do which have been waiting days or weeks.

Welcome to austerity in the publicly funded part of the legal system. Glad I got out of legal aid. It’s soul destroying.

Which doesn’t help OP. Sorry.

God yes, I got out just as LASPO came in.

Mind you, the effect this weather has had makes my caseload feel like I'm still there. People seem to have lost their minds, I am knee deep in injunctions, FFS!

Apologies for the delay.

The case isn't over, it's ongoing and there's another court date coming up soon.

I email all emails to the solicitor and the secretary, so would have thought that someone should have read them. I think my biggest frustration is that they read and respond to minor issues, sometimes within minutes, but major issues, or time sensitive issues are not.

We recently had an appointment with the solicitor over submissions for court. I'd emailed our position to them twice. At the end of the appointment, he said that if he had read the emails then we wouldn't have needed the appointment.

Update. After forty five days of no contact, we got an email saying that they would be in touch the next day. We're now on day three of waiting again. Court is on Tuesday, and DPS ex has made some serious allegations against him while we've been waiting to hear from the solicitor. Her solicitor has sent weekly communications to his and we've seen none of them. The ex makes comments at every handover about the lack of response through the solicitors, but won't tell him what it is she's sending communication about.

For info, the recipient of an email can ignore the read receipt request but still read it. I almost always ignore the read receipt.