Legal: information about how we work

  • ​Social Worker Gary and CareDoctors are trading styles of Expert Social Worker Limited, a limited company in England and Wales, company number 12362493. Registered office Unit 29 Highcroft Industrial Estate, Enterprise Road, Waterlooville, Hampshire, PO8 0BT, with offices also at Office 7, 8-9 Rodney Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO4 8ES.    
  • We do not see visitors at our Highcroft office; this is a correspondence address only.  We accept visitors at our Rodney Road office, but you should book an appointment to avoid missing us if we are out assessing or seeing our clients. 
  • To access our Privacy Policy, please click this link
  • When you instruct us, you will always be allocated a named registered and qualified Social Worker from our pool of independent social workers we work closely with.  All work is subject to random quality and scrutiny checks. 
  • We are not a statutory local social service authority, so we charge various fees for our services.  You may be able to get free advice, support or assistance from your local council under the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005 or the Mental Health Act 1983, and we will always ensure you know what your rights are before taking instructions from you.  
  • We offer a free 30-minute consultation to anyone who would like to speak with us before instructing our services. 
  • Payment can be in person (cash, cheques, online, phone or contactless payment methods) or we can accept bank transfer or payment over the phone.  Receipts provided upon request.  
  • We do not accept payment for our services from individuals who lack the capacity to instruct us; you must be prepared to act as their agent and be responsible for  all costs and any fees owed.  Accessing someone's account without permission or legal authority may be unlawful, so to protected the safety of the the person and you, we will never accepted payment in this form.  
  • We collaborate with various solicitors, lawyers, barristers, chartered legal executives, financial advisors, care advisors and other independent social workers across the country, but we work independently from their services.  
  • We are not registered or regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority or the Bar Standards Board, so we are not permitted to give legal advice, nor are our members permitted to carry out reserved legal activities under the Legal Services Act 2007.  Some of our members may be lawyers by training, but we are not practicing. 
  • We adhere to the Code of Practice for Independent Social Workers (BASW), the Professional Standards for Social Workers and the Code of Ethics for our respective professional bodies, namely Social Work England, Social Care Wales, Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health and Care Profession Council and our professional membership body, such as NMC, Royal College of Occupational Therapist and the British Association of Social Workers. Some of our members may be associated with other professional or learned societies, and we follow their code of practice in addition to our statutory regulatory bodies. 
  • Please click here for a copy of the current Complaints Policy.  
  • Please note: we are exempt from registering with the Ministry of Justice's Claims Management Regulator under Part 5 of the MOJ Guidance Note (09/2013).  This means we do not act as a claims management company, but we may support the work of others who are.  You must agree to instruct us as independent assessors or expert witnesses, and not claim agents, otherwise, we cannot and will not undertake any claim-based work.  
  • We do not act on a no-win no-fee basis but sometimes our pool of social worker may offer pro bono work, or we may agree to work at a significant cost reduction (around 75% of our usual fees).  This is solely at the discretion of the professional undertaking the work, and at the agreement of the senior partner or consultant director of the company. 
  • All work is subject to a binding contract under English and Welsh law, and quotes are provided for all work undertaken. 
  • When you instruct us, you must agree to comply with our Terms of Engagement. We always provides a copy for new customers who are first-time customers. 
  • Payment for our services must be made within 30 days of invoice, as stated in our terms of engagement.  We reserve the right to  charge interest for late payments over 30 days.  We also seek the standard interest rate via the small claims court (Money Claim Online) for unpaid invoices. We usually seek part or full payment in advanced of any single private instruction.  
  • We have a special rule for solicitors working under a Legal Aid Contract: We waive the 30 days, but we usually follow up after the third month, as we understand there are often delays with closing the file for submission to the  Legal Aid Agency.   As a small company, we do ask that Public Funded cases benefits for early release from the Legal Aid Agency and expect our instructing solicitors to seek part of full payment of the experts fees and disbursements.  
  • Our fees are based on the subject matter of instruction, the complexity and intensity of work.  This means you may be charged a different rate from another client, as just like individuals are not the same, we find that our work is never the same, so our price and fees vary to meet your needs.  Some of our work is offered as a fixed fee agreement, which we review up to twice a year, usually at the start of March (for April) and October (for November).  Some other fees are fixed, such as travel and mileage when claimed. 
  • Our fees are claimed based on excellent quality work and fair market. 
  • We reserve all the copyrights for our assessments and works. 
  • We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office. Our registration number is ZB213471.
  • All our qualified health and care practitioners who hold professional insurance packages as individuals.  This package means members hold at least £5m Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) and £5m Public Liability Insurance.  Evidence of insurance is available upon request if not held under Forms. 
  • We do not retain data longer than is required to complete the instruction, unless required by law where cases are pending in court, or where a court has ordered this.  We have to retain work under the rule of limitation, so timescales vary according the work we undertake. 
  • We offer discounts for multiple assessments booked at once, and we sometimes provide vouchers for discounts to our work at the value of £50 or £75.  These are issued at the discretion of the professional in conjunction with a partner or consultant and are subject to terms and conditions.