It’s been a huge year for changes in the personal injury claiming world as the government have reigned down a torrent of reforms and changes that have, in reality, hit the victims in the pocket. Fixed fees for lawyers, reduced liabilities for Defendants, and whole a new world when it comes to the way a claim is pursued.
But fear not! Because we knew this day was going to come, and we’ve been preparing for it for years. So if you’re feeling a little down because you want to claim but you’re facing losing up to 25% of your payout from other solicitors, we have just the stocking filler for you this Christmas!
We still offer 100% compensation for most compensation claims!
Let’s take a look at the changes and how we have uniquely reacted to them:
25% Deductions
This has been caused by government stopping lawyers recovering something called a Success fee from the opponent. This Success Fee is an extra percentage of our fees we get to help us fund No Win, No Fee claims as part of decades of Access to Justice.
Access to legal help shouldn’t just be for the rich and famous – it’s an entitlement that keeps us equal in society. So lawyer’s don’t net massive profits from these Success Fees – it’s designed to help us offset the claims we take on and don’t win. It’s not easy to know whether a claim will win or not unless we actually pursue it. The Success Fee, for years now, has been reflective of the risk of the case as well.
But now the millionaire insurers have saved themselves a bucket load of money in no longer having to pay for the Success Fee if a claim wins. Now, the victim is expected to pay for it and the government has capped the amount a lawyer can charge their client for this at 25%.
But we decided that we are going to waive the charge for most cases for our clients. We still get paid by the other side, we just don’t get as much as we used to. We have chosen to selflessly take the hit instead of our clients losing out.
We can afford to do this because we take on and win a high volume of claims and we have never been involved in the referral fee system that was also banned in April – where lawyers were throwing millions of pounds at insurers to buy claims.
We also don’t ask for payment of insurance which is no longer recoverable either. Other lawyers will ask their clients for this upfront!
Fixed Fees and Online Portals
Other lawyers have been quaking in their shoes at the thought of fixed fees for public and employer liability cases – which is hard luck for them as the government introduced it from the 31st July 2013. Now we use an online portal system to submit claims and we receive a fraction of the fees we used to if the claim stays within this portal system. For a claim to remain a part of it the insurers must accept liability early and deal with us efficiently.
The fees, to be honest, are not reflective of the work that has to be done which is another reason why other firms can afford to forego the Success Fee like we do. But we have always been a forward thinking law firm with big ideas that put us ahead of the game. Our unique systems allow us to be efficient without compromising on the quality of our service. So you enjoy our easy way of claiming to fit in line with the new easy way of dealing with claims with insurers.
So even for these portal cases we still offer 100% compensation!
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013
Without going in to a lot of boring detail, this has ruined years of “strict liability” where an employer can be held liable for certain accidents even if they could not have been prevented. This was, I imagine, put in place to protect those injured in the line of duty. I mean, employers have insurance – so why are people being stopped from claiming for it!?
Whilst we are taking steps to approach this matter as somewhat of a potential miscarriage of justice, in the meantime, it is going to affect some people injured in the workplace as the duty is now on the employee to prove the employer has been negligent. This could end up being very difficult to do.
So we could see an era of people losing limbs and lives without any way of being compensated from insurance which exists for the whole reason to cover people in the workplace!
As such, you need to make sure the lawyer dealing with your case is an expert injury lawyer like us so you have the best shot at winning the claim!
Referral Fee Bans
For years we have been against the payment of referral fees because we know that it can hinder access to justice and can lead to a poor level of service as lawyers have no budget left to spend on a claim when they’ve wasted thousands of pounds on paying an insurer for a case. You may have noticed that insurers are not so quick to offer to help people in road accidents by passing them to one of their “approved solicitors” – because they no longer get paid for it.
The insurers have been raking it in and this was found to be one of the main contributory causes to the rise in claims and premiums. Yes, that’s right – the insurers were to blame the whole time!
But we have welcomed the changes as we have always spoken out against getting involved in the referral fee system – our clients come to us directly for our reputation!
Will there be more changes?
Probably – the government seem set on curbing what the media refer to as the “compensation culture” which has already been proven to be a myth; although you probably weren’t aware of that since the media wouldn’t want to publish something that isn’t controversial now would they!?
But what you need to worry about is that there could be more changes that can affect your ability to claim. So if you have had an accident and think you may be entitled to compensation, act now or face the consequences if our wonderful politicians take further steps to stop you from claiming compensation you are legally entitled to claim for.
If you have had an accident, our Christmas present to you still stands! For most claims we can still offer you a 100% compensation agreement despite all of the above!
From all of the team here at The Injury Lawyers – we wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
