Review policy
How reviews and ranking work on MyLocalAccountants.uk.
Who can leave a review
Anyone who has been a client of the firm, signed in with their own email. Before publishing we check they were a client: a firm that has claimed its listing is asked to confirm, and otherwise a moderator checks. The firm sees the reviewer's name, the kind of work and when it was done, never the text, the rating or the reviewer's email, until the review is live.
What we remove
Reviews that are not from a client, that name individuals outside the firm, that contain threats, discrimination or personal data, or that are about a different business. We do not remove reviews for being negative, and we do not remove them at the firm's request.
What firms can do
Reply once, publicly, under the review. Report a review they believe breaks this policy; a moderator checks it against this policy, and we aim to do so within five working days. If a review is removed, the profile says so, with the date and why.
Incentives
A firm may not offer anything for a review: no payment, discount, gift, refund or prize draw, whatever the rating. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Schedule 20, paragraph 13) bans fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews. The CMA's guidance (CMA208, 4 April 2025) says a prize draw is unlikely on its own to break that rule, so banning prize draws is our own rule, stricter than the law. If we find evidence of an incentive, we remove the affected reviews.
Changing or deleting your review
You can change your review from Your reviews in your account. Until it is published, a change is saved straight away. Once it is published, a moderator checks the change first, usually within five working days, and your original stays on the profile until then; a changed review shows "Edited" with the date. A review can be changed up to three times. You can also delete your review at any time: it comes off the profile and the rating at once. Earlier wording is never public; moderators keep it for 90 days, then the text is deleted. A firm is not told when a review is changed or deleted. A review a moderator removed cannot be changed or deleted, so its public notice stays.
Ranking and featured listings
Position in the ranked list is verified review score. A featured listing is a paid placement shown in its own labelled slot above that list. If a town has more than three Featured listings, they take turns in that slot day by day; on other days a Featured listing sits in the ranked list at the place its reviews earn, with no paid label, because that place is not paid for.