The Government is proposing major changes in relation to personal injury claims. In effect, the changes mean that it is likely injured people with claims worth less than £5,000 will have to bring their claims without legal representation.
One impact of this is that the initial costs involved in bringing a personal injury claim will have to be met by claimants themselves. At present these costs are covered by claimants’ solicitors, who are backed by insurance to cover these expenses if the claim is not successful.
Costs Changes To Small Claims Limit
Costs of bringing a claim
The claimant is required to prove the injuries that were caused by the accident. The current indication from the Government is that the claimant will still be required to produce medical evidence in the form of independent medical reports to show what injuries they have suffered.
To consider the appropriate compensation for an injury, the Court needs to consider the injuries sustained, the treatment received and pain and suffering and loss of amenity of the claimant, and their prognosis.
Medical reports
The claimant will need to provide a report from a medical expert as evidence. There is a fee for this and medical reports can be expensive. There may be more than one report required – for example, someone who suffers an injury to their neck and a head injury may require two separate reports from an orthopaedic consultant and a neurologist.
In addition, the expert will usually need to see the claimant’s medical notes and records, and any hospital x-rays and scans, and there are further fees for obtaining copies of these.
If it is necessary for the claimant to issue Court proceedings there are also Court fees to pay, unless the claimant is eligible for a refund or remission. The current fee for claims up to £10,000 is £455 and the hearing fee for a claim in the small claims track valued at more than £3,000 is £335.
In road traffic cases, there may also be fees for obtaining a police accident report, in particular if liability is in dispute. In employment claims, there may be fees for obtaining a copy of a report from the Health and Safety Executive.
Funding the costs
If the claim is successful the claimant may be able to recover these fees from the opponent. However, it is not clear how the claimant is expected to fund these fees prior to the conclusion of the claim. For most ordinary hardworking people, finding several hundred pounds to cover expenses to pursue a claim is going to very difficult and will present a significant block to access to justice.
If the claimant is off work as a result of the injury then that will put them in an even more difficult position to find the money they need to cover these fees upfront.
For many people there may be no way for them to put together sufficient funds to meet these expenses and as a result they may be unable to pursue the claim.
In addition, most claimants will be pursuing a claim against an insurer, which will have the expertise to deal with the claim and the financial resources to instruct lawyers to represent their interests.
These issues are a very real concern for access to justice for ordinary people.
How Nelsons Can Help
Associate Helen Froggatt specialises in personal injury claims.
If you have been involved in an accident, please contact Helen or a member of our team of Personal Injury specialists on 0800 024 1976 or using our online contact form and they will be able to assist.