Costs and Fees Information

When you instruct us, any client funds we hold are kept secure, separate from firm funds, and placed into a regulated Client Account or, where necessary, a Designated Deposit Account. We return a fair and reasonable proportion of interest earned on these funds, in line with Solicitors Accounts Rules.

In accepting your instructions, we may hold your money in our Client Account.

Money held on behalf of clients must be immediately available unless clear instructions are provided to the contrary, must be kept safe and available and must be kept separate from funds belonging to the Practice.

We operate an instant access account with Nat West Bank Plc to fulfil the above. This is the ‘Client Account’ and holds pooled money belonging to different clients and different matters.

We also operate where appropriate or required individual accounts known as ‘Designated Deposit Accounts’ set up for individual clients or matters, containing only funds belonging to those clients or matters.

Client money is ordinarily held in the Client Account.

The Solicitors Accounts Rules require us to account to clients for a fair and reasonable sum of interest on any client money held by us on their behalf.

Monies held in a General Client Account are unlikely to receive as much interest as might be obtained should you hold and invest the funds yourself.

Due to regulatory requirements and administrative costs involved, we will not pay interest if the sum calculated is less than £100 in any 12-month period during which the money is held in the general Client Account. We will also not account to you for interest on money held for the payment of a professional disbursement or if there is a specific agreement to contract out of the provisions of this policy.

Interest will be calculated over the whole period that we hold the moneys but will only be paid on cleared funds. It is the firm’s policy that cheques are only treated as cleared funds on the tenth working day after they were banked. Monies received by CHAPS will be treated as cleared funds on the date of receipt. Monies received by BACS will be treated as cleared funds on the day after receipt. Cash will be treated as cleared funds on the day it is banked.

The interest rate applied will be the equivalent of the rate earned for the sum held in a National Westminster Bank Plc Client Deposit Manager Account. The current rates can be found at www.natwest.com.