Cancellation Policy

Effective Date: June 2026 | Next Review: December 2026

1. About This Policy

LawNeeds allows users to purchase a variety of different subscription plans. LawNeeds also connects users with regulated legal professionals for single-session consultations and ongoing multi-day legal support as well as casework, for an additional cost. Separately, a range of professionals are able to purchase a variety of different subscription plans to support their work.

As many of our users have urgent, time-sensitive legal needs, professional reliability and fair refund treatment are central to how the platform operates.

This Policy sets out the rules that apply when a subscription is cancelled (see Section 11), and when a consultation is cancelled, rescheduled, or not attended (see Sections 4-6). It applies to all users and all professionals using the LawNeeds platform. It forms part of the LawNeeds Terms and Conditions (Mobile Application).

2. Definitions

User — a person who purchases a service via the platform (e.g. a subscription plan), and/or who books and pays for a consultation (who is not a Professional).

Professional — a solicitor or immigration adviser who accepts and delivers a consultation or a request for ongoing support / casework, and/or any professional who purchases a service via the platform for use in their profession (e.g. SME in-house legal).
Consultation — a single-session booking with a solicitor or immigration adviser.

Plan — a 3-Day or 5-Day Guided Legal Support Plan comprising multiple sessions.

Casework — ongoing matter-based legal work agreed between the user and a solicitor or an immigration adviser beyond the consultation and legal support plan products.

No-Show — failure by either the user or the professional to attend a booked consultation without prior notice.
Platform Minutes — non-cash credits issued by LawNeeds redeemable against platform services.

4. User Cancellations – Consultations

4.1 More than 48 hours before the scheduled start time

• Full cash refund to the user’s original payment method within 5 business days
• No penalty to the user
• The professional is notified promptly and their time is released

4.2 Between 24 and 48 hours before the scheduled start time

• User may elect either: a 50% cash refund to the original payment method within 5 business days, or Platform Minutes to be used across other platform features
• As an alternative to the 50% refund, the user may choose to reschedule under Section 6 at no additional cost — if the user reschedules rather than cancels within this window, no refund deduction applies
• The remaining 50% is retained by the platform and remitted to the professional in recognition of the time reserved and any preparation already undertaken

4.3 Less than 24 hours before the scheduled start time

• No cash refund is due
• The professional receives full payment
• As a goodwill gesture LawNeeds may, at its discretion, issue Platform Minutes to the value of 25% of the consultation fee, redeemable on a future booking within 90 days

4.4 No-show by user

• No cash refund is due
• The professional receives full payment
• A grace period of 10 minutes applies from the scheduled start time. If the user joins within 10 minutes the consultation proceeds for the remaining time. If the user does not join within 10 minutes the consultation is recorded as a no-show and the above consequences apply

4.5 Repeated late cancellations or no-shows by user

• Two or more late cancellations or no-shows within any rolling 90-day period may result in a temporary booking restriction of 14 days
• Three or more within any rolling 90-day period may result in account suspension pending review

5. Professional Cancellations – Consultations

All references to cancellation timelines below run from the scheduled consultation start time. Payment is processed only upon a professional’s acceptance of a user’s consultation request. Where a professional rejects a user’s request for a consultation for whatever reason, no payment will be taken and no refund process applies. The user’s request is simply closed and they are notified promptly. The provisions below apply only where the professional has accepted the request for consultation and the user’s payment has already been processed.

5.1 More than 48 hours before the scheduled start time

• User receives a full cash refund to the original payment method within 5 business days
• The user is offered a free rescheduled appointment with the same or an alternative professional
• No commission is forfeited by the professional
• No formal penalty is applied on the first two occasions in any rolling 12-month period. The cancellation is noted on the professional’s internal reliability record

5.2 Between 24 and 48 hours before the scheduled start time (late cancellation)

• User may elect either: a full cash refund within 3 business days, or Platform Minutes to be used across other platform features
• The professional forfeits 50% of the fee for that session
• LawNeeds recovers the forfeited amount from the professional’s next fortnightly payout
• A reliability note is recorded on the professional’s profile
• The user is offered a free rescheduled appointment as a priority booking

5.3 Less than 24 hours before the scheduled start time (urgent late cancellation)

• User may elect either: a full cash refund within 3 business days, or Platform Minutes to be used across other platform features
• The professional forfeits the full fee for that session
• LawNeeds recovers the full refunded amount from the professional’s next fortnightly payout
• A reliability note is recorded on the professional’s profile
• A formal reliability strike is recorded on the professional’s profile
• The user is offered a free rescheduled appointment as a priority booking

5.4 No-show by professional

• User receives a full cash refund within 3 business days
• LawNeeds may additionally issue the user Platform Minutes to the value of the consultation fee as a goodwill gesture
• The professional forfeits the full fee for that session and LawNeeds recovers the refunded amount from the next payout
• A formal written warning is issued to the professional
• A second no-show within any rolling 12-month period triggers a visibility suspension pending a 5-business-day review
• A third no-show within any rolling 12-month period constitutes grounds for immediate removal from the platform

6. Rescheduling

All rescheduling provisions below apply only where the professional has accepted a consultation request and the user’s payment has been processed. Where a user wishes to amend a pending request for consultation that has not yet been accepted, they may withdraw and resubmit a new request at no cost and without penalty.

6.1 Rescheduling by the user

• A user may reschedule any confirmed consultation free of charge by giving at least 48 hours’ notice before the scheduled start time
• Rescheduling requests made between 24 and 48 hours before the start time are permitted at no cost provided the professional agrees. If the professional does not agree, the booking is treated as a cancellation under Section 4.2
• Rescheduling requests made with less than 24 hours’ notice are treated as late cancellations under Section 4.3 unless the professional expressly agrees to reschedule voluntarily
• A confirmed booking may be rescheduled a maximum of twice. On the third rescheduling request LawNeeds reserves the right to treat the booking as cancelled under the applicable notice window

6.2 Rescheduling by the professional

• A professional may offer to reschedule a confirmed booking rather than cancel, subject to the user’s agreement
• Where a professional initiates a reschedule with more than 48 hours’ notice and the user agrees, no penalty applies
• Where a professional initiates a reschedule with less than 48 hours’ notice, the user may choose to reschedule or to cancel and receive a full refund under Sections 5.2 or 5.3 as applicable. The user’s choice governs whether the booking proceeds as a rescheduled appointment or is treated as a cancellation by the professional with the associated refund and reliability consequences applying accordingly
• A professional may not withdraw an accepted booking request and resubmit it as a new request to avoid the cancellation consequences in Section 5. Any such conduct will be treated as a cancellation under the applicable notice window

Rescheduling requests must be made via the LawNeeds platform booking management system or by emailing support@lawneeds.co.uk. Rescheduled appointments must take place within 30 days of the original booking confirmation date.

7. Refund Processing

All refunds are processed to the original payment method via the platform’s payment provider

• Cash refunds for professional cancellations and no-shows are processed within 3 business days of the triggering event
• Cash refunds for user cancellations with adequate notice are processed within 5 business days
• LawNeeds will send the user a confirmation email when a refund has been initiated. Depending on the user’s card issuer, funds may take a further 3–5 business days to appear in the user’s account
• LawNeeds does not substitute cash refund entitlements with Platform Minutes without the user’s express consent. Where Platform Minutes are offered, the user may decline and receive a cash refund where one is due

8. Plans and Casework

8.1 Guided Support Plans (3-Day and 5-Day) — user cancellation

• Where a user cancels the entire plan before the first session with more than 48 hours’ notice, a full refund is provided
• Where a user cancels between 24 and 48 hours before the first session, a 50% refund is provided
• Where one or more sessions within a plan have already been completed, the refund is calculated on a pro-rata basis for undelivered sessions only, subject to the applicable notice window for the cancellation of the remaining sessions
• No refund is available for any session that has been fully delivered, subject to the dispute process in Section 10

8.2 Guided Support Plans — professional failure to deliver a session mid-plan

Where a professional fails to deliver one or more individual sessions within an ongoing plan, the following rules apply:

• Professional cancels a session with more than 48 hours’ notice: The session is rescheduled at no cost to the user within 7 days. The plan continues. No refund is due for that session and no fee is forfeited by the professional
• Professional cancels a session with less than 48 hours’ notice: The user may choose between a free rescheduled session within 5 days or a pro-rata refund for that undelivered session, calculated as the plan price divided by the number of sessions in the plan. If a refund is chosen, LawNeeds recovers the pro-rata amount from the professional’s next payout. A reliability note is recorded on the professional’s profile
• Professional fails to attend a session without notice (no-show within a plan): The user receives a pro-rata refund for that session as above. LawNeeds recovers the amount from the professional’s next payout. A formal reliability strike is recorded. If the professional no-shows on two or more sessions within the same plan, the user may elect to terminate the plan entirely and receive a full refund for all undelivered sessions. LawNeeds will facilitate this within 3 business days of the user’s written request
• In all mid-plan failure scenarios LawNeeds will contact the user within 1 business day of being notified of the failure to confirm the available options

8.3 Casework

• Casework fees are subject to the written fee agreement between the user and the professional
• Where no sessions or work have commenced, a full refund of any advance payment is due on cancellation
• Where work has commenced, the professional is entitled to charge for work done on a pro-rata or time-recorded basis. The professional must provide an itemised account of work completed to LawNeeds and to the user within 5 business days of cancellation
• Disputes about casework fee fairness may be referred under Section 10

9. Technical Failures

Where a consultation fails or is materially interrupted due to a verified platform or connectivity fault that is not attributable to either party (subject to LawNeeds’ absolute discretion), the following applies:

• The user will be offered a full cash refund or a free rescheduled appointment at LawNeeds’ cost, at the user’s election
• No reliability penalty, fee forfeiture, or reliability strike will be applied to the professional in these circumstances
• Where a session is partially delivered before the technical failure, LawNeeds will calculate a proportionate refund for the undelivered portion based on the time remaining at the point of failure relative to the total booked session length
• Users must report technical failures to support@lawneeds.co.uk within 2 hours of the scheduled appointment time. Reports made after this window will be assessed on their merits but LawNeeds cannot guarantee the same resolution
• LawNeeds will log session start and end timestamps for all consultations. These records will be used to verify technical failure claims and to calculate proportionate refunds where applicable
• Where a technical failure is attributable to the user’s own device, software, or internet connection, this Section does not apply and the standard no-show provisions in Section 4.4 govern

10. Disputes and Chargebacks

10.1 Internal dispute process

Users who believe they have been charged unfairly or have not received an entitled refund should contact LawNeeds in the first instance at support@lawneeds.co.uk. LawNeeds will acknowledge all disputes within 3 business days and aim to resolve them within 14 business days.

LawNeeds does not act as a complaints resolution body in respect of the quality of legal advice provided. Our dispute process covers platform-related refund and booking issues only.

10.2 Chargebacks

Users are asked to contact LawNeeds at support@lawneeds.co.uk before initiating a chargeback with their card issuer for any platform-related payment dispute. In many cases LawNeeds can resolve the issue faster than the chargeback process allows.

Where a user initiates a chargeback without first raising a dispute with LawNeeds, LawNeeds reserves the right to temporarily restrict the user’s account pending investigation and to provide the payment provider with the relevant booking records, session logs, and consent evidence in response to the chargeback. Initiating a chargeback in respect of a fully delivered consultation where the CCR waiver was obtained at checkout may not succeed and could delay any legitimate refund entitlement the user has in respect of other matters.

Where a chargeback is initiated by a user in connection with a professional’s failure to attend, LawNeeds will support the user’s position by providing the relevant booking and reliability records to the payment provider.

11. Cancellation of Subscriptions

11.1 User cancellations of subscriptions

Subject to the 14-day cancellation period and checkout waiver set out in Section 3 above, you may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Access continues until the end of your current billing period. No refund is due for any remaining days in that period. Where payment has been taken but access has not yet activated, a full refund will be issued within 5 business days.

11.2 LawNeeds-initiated cancellations of subscriptions

LawNeeds may cancel a subscription by giving 30 days written notice by email, in which case a pro-rata refund for any unused portion of the billing period will be issued within 5 business days. LawNeeds may cancel immediately without refund where a user has acted fraudulently or in serious breach of the Terms and Conditions. A pro-rata refund will be issued for immediate cancellations on other grounds.

11.3 Professional cancellations of subscriptions

Cancellation of a professional’s subscription to enhanced platform features does not constitute termination of any Partner Agreement that may be in place. Any Partner Agreement continues in accordance with its own terms unless separately terminated.

11.4 Auto-renewal

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period. You may cancel auto-renewal at any time through your account settings before the renewal date.

12. Policy Updates

LawNeeds may update this Policy from time to time. Users and professionals will be notified of material changes by email. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.