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On the 9^th September it was confirmed by the government that there would be a ban on referral fees for personal injury claims.  A referral fee is a fee paid by a solicitor or claims management company in return for the details of people who have been involved in an accident, and have got good prospects for a successful personal injury claim. 

This fee is often in the region of £200 to £1,000.  Worst of all, the victims who’s details are getting passed to third parties probably do not want their details being distributed if they knew that they were.  A solicitor will often pay this referral fee because they consider that in the long run they will be able to make money from the claim.  For example, a solicitor may pay £400 for your details – they get you to pursue your claim with them and win it, and they get paid a few thousand pounds by the Defendant’s in respect of their costs.  In other words, they make a tidy profit.

At The Injury Lawyers we have always spoken out about referral fees and have never paid a referral fee to any company.  As such, we welcome this ban on referral fees.  This is because we do not consider that they are a good thing for the client.  For example, if we were to spend £400 on your buying your claim through a referral fee, that is £400 less we now have to spend on progressing your claim as efficiently as possible.
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Claiming compensation for injuries resulting out of a relatively straightforward road traffic accident is simple.  Your claim can be over in a matter of weeks or months, and what’s best, with the right lawyer on hand, you won’t even have to go to that much effort – they will do all the work for you.

Prior to April 2010 claims for compensation from road accidents could take months or sometimes years.  The Defendant had a period of 21 days to acknowledge your claim and then a further 3 months to investigate it; and that was just to provide an admission or denial of liability. 

Things have changed thankfully.  Now, what is required is for you to submit what is known as a Claims Notification Form or ‘CNF’ through an online portal on the Ministry of Justice website.  Once your lawyers have done this on your behalf the Defendant must acknowledge the CNF within one business day and then they have a further 15 business days in which to admit or deny liability.  This is wholly different from before.  Liability could be admitted for your injuries within 16 days; whereas under the old system, investigations into your accident may not have begun at the same point.  It really is a fast and straightforward process nowadays and an injury lawyer will be more than happy to take you through the process and make sure everything is done correctly.
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On the 9^th September the media confirmed that the government had finally announced that it will ban the referral fees that are paid to insurance companies in return for them passing on the details of the victims of accidents.

This move is welcomed by us at The Injury Lawyers. We have always criticised these payments in the past because they are, in our opinion, bad for the client and the personal injury profession.

Referral fees are paid by some firms of solicitors, mainly to claims management companies and insurance firms, but it can be to anyone who passes on details of an injured person, such as a garage or even the police. Many insurance firms, large and small, have passed on the details of their policyholders after they have contacted them to report an accident that was not their fault. In return for these details, many personal injury solicitors pay a referral fee to the insurance company.
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The referral fees involved in personal injury claims is a topic we have blogged about and condemned on so many occasions. We, as in independent firm of specialist personal injury lawyers who hate the concept of referral fees where middlemen profit from injury victims in return for passing details around, are proud to have never been a part of it.

Just in the last few months we were ecstatic to hear that our former Justice Secretary Mr Jack Straw had exposed what has been called the insurance industries “dirty little secret” when he investigated how the details of one of his constituents was passed around for profit following a road accident. We were overjoyed to hear the investigations concluded that the real reason for insurance premiums being driven up was a symptom of the referral fees rackets.

Now, it appears we are finally making some headway in ridding the country of the referral fee disease.
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At The Injury Lawyers we are well aware that people who want to bring a claim for compensation generally want it over and done with as fast as possible.  That is why we vow to get you the maximum compensation you deserve in the shortest possible time.  That said, although we do all our work at our end as fast as we can, there will always be periods of time where we have to wait for the other side to respond and allow them time to do this.  Of course, we can chase them up and make sure everything is going smoothly at their end as well; but inevitably there will be some small periods where we simply have to wait.  Here is a quick guide to your compensation claim:

Most accidents, except for minor road traffic accidents, will be dealt with under the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims.  This Protocol has been designed to achieve a speedy end to your compensation claim. 

The first stage is to produce a letter of claim which outlines your accident precisely, details your injuries, and confirms why we believe the other side were negligent.  Your expert injury lawyers will produce this for you and this letter should not take long at all.  Once it is ready your lawyers will send it to the Defendant who then have a period of 21 days to acknowledge the letter of claim.  In the most part, Defendant’s acknowledge this letter well within those 21 days and then either pass it ot their insurers or solicitors to deal with.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident which was not your fault, and as a result you have sustained injuries and loss, in all likelihood you could be due compensation.  For example, if you were stationary at a roundabout and someone has driven into the back of your vehicle, and you have suffered a whiplash injury as a result, you are entitled to be compensated for the whiplash injury. 

Similarly, if you have been correctly proceeding down your side of the road and another driver negligently pulls into your lane and collides head on with you, you could be compensated for any injuries you have sustained in the accident.  The best thing to do, once you have been able to attend a hospital or your GP, is to contact a specialist personal injury lawyer with experience in dealing with road traffic accident claims – they can advise you as to whether you have a potential claim and will be able to provide quality representation.  In the meantime, here is a quick guide as to how the compensation process works.

On the 30^th April 2010 a new protocol was introduced to deal solely with road traffic accidents between particular values.  The majority of road traffic accidents will be dealt with under this process and it must be said that this new process is much, much quicker than its predecessor. 
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My message to anyone who is thinking of making a claim for compensation for injuries they have suffered at the hands of a negligent third party, is to instruct a quality and expert injury lawyer working under a Genuine No Win, No Fee agreement, and one who, importantly, has not paid a referral fee for your claim!  The reason is simple – lawyers who pay referral fees have less money to spend on you and have demonstrated at first instance that the reason they want to deal with your claim is not because they genuinely care for you, but because they want to make a quick bit of cash.

What are referral fees?

A referral fee is a sum of money paid to an insurer, claims company, or even garages and the police (apparently) by your legal representative to get hold of your details after you have had an accident so that they can take on your compensation claim.  For example, law firm (A) will pay insurer (B) £1000.00 so that they can get the details of your accident and your contact details to enable them to get in touch with you and convince you that you should be making a claim for compensation with them.  In other words, lawyers who pay a referral fee for your claim are saying that you are merely a pawn in their grand business plan.  Once a lawyer has paid a referral fee for your claim, you will no doubt be bombarded with text messages and cold calls – after all they will be desperate to get you on board – they have just paid a significant sum of money to get your claim information.
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OK – so you’ve had a car accident, it wasn’t your fault, and you’re wondering what on earth you should do to sort it all out! It can be particularly scary if it’s your first time in an accident as well; made even worse if the driver at fault was being quite nasty with you as they knew they were at fault, and were perhaps trying to dodge the bullet.

Here is your one stop shop advice guide as to what exactly to do. My best suggestion is read this first before you do anything (and I mean anything  – including speaking to your own insurers) and you will hopefully be able to rest a little easier when you know what you need to do.

At The Scene
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For those who may not be sure, here is a bit of advice on what an Accident Claim is, what it entails, and what happens if you make one:

An accident claim is generally a claim for compensation for injuries and loss incurred after an accident you have been involved in that was caused through no fault of your own. The accident must have been caused by someone else’s negligence – whether it’s a person or a company. You can actually be partly to blame, and still make a claim, subject to a reduction in your payout. But, ultimately, the thing to know when trying to figure out of you have an accident claim is whether the accident was the fault of someone else.

If this accident has caused you to suffer any sort of injury, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation that reflects the nature, severity, and length of the suffering involved. You are also able to take in to account for any literal financial losses you incur as well; a matter I will come on to shortly.
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In most cases, making a claim for compensation for the injuries you have suffered out of a relatively minor road traffic accident is actually a quite straightforward and fast process.  At The Injury Lawyers we are well aware of a perception that some people hold that claiming for compensation takes years and years and is ultimately not worth the hassle.  Yes, we admit that there are some claims that do take a couple of years; however, most straightforward road traffic accidents are settled within a few months or less.  If you think you have a claim for compensation arising from a road traffic accident, please do not be put off – it’s easy, especially when you instruct a quality injury lawyer.

The first step of your road traffic accident is to complete what is known as a ‘Claim Notification Form’.  Your injury lawyer will take you through this – it is again straightforward.  We just collate the details of your accident, get you to sign the form and then submit it electronically to the other side.

Once your Claim Notification Form is submitted the other side have 1 business day in which to acknowledge it and then a further 15 business days to investigate your accident and come back with an admission or denial of liability.  Just because they have 15 days does not mean it will necessarily take this long – they could well admit liability within a day, and it really does depend on the efficiency of the other side.  One thing for sure though is that it should not take months to resolve.  Under previous law the other side could take nearly 4 months to come back to you with their position on liability – now they have roughly 3 weeks.  Who said claiming for compensation still takes ages?
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