Document Actions
funding your case
Public funding (what used to be called Legal Aid) is only available for claims involving:
Most other personal injury claims are funded by:
Trade union assistance or insurance obtained through a trade or professional bodyAssistance from a Trade Union or staff association is the most common method of funding accidents in the workplace. Many trade associations offer legal assistance as pat of their membership package, but these are commonly used as a method to sell memberships and the scope of the insurance is very limited. Check your policy for the relevant clauses and then have it to hand when you contact injurywatch.co.uk's free, confidential, no obligation claim support helpdesk for advice on whether you are covered and the extent of any possible insurance claim.
Legal expenses insuranceWith the increasing curtailment of public funding for civil cases, insurance policies to cover legal expenses are becoming increasingly popular. You may obtain free legal insurance with another insurance policy although this is likely to be limited in scope; alternatively you may have (or may buy) a specialist: policy with more comprehensive legal coverage. Before-the-Event (BTE) insurance (commonly known as legal expenses insurance) usually comprises an annually renewed policy to cover an unknown possible future event. As no claim may ever be made it is relatively cheap to obtain and some motor insurance and household policies (and credit card providers) will often include it almost no extra cost (although the scope and extent of coverage may be limited). Check your policy for the relevant clauses and then have it to hand when you contact injurywatch.co.uk's free, confidential, no obligation case evaluation service for advice on whether you are covered and the extent of any possible insurance claim. An increasing number of people are taking out slightly more expensive Before-the-Event policies to provide more comprehensive legal cover. injurywatch.co.uk's insurance services would be happy to quote to provide you with comprehensive "Before-the-Event" legal expenses cover. Insurers providing BTE cover will usually want to look at your claim to judge its chances of success, but most will allow you to select your own solicitor once they have approved further action.
Paying legal costs from savings/earnings as they are incurredIf you do not have the appropriate insurance policy in place and you have sufficient savings or earnings this may be the best way to progress a strong and well-founded claim. Unlike with a Conditional Fee (no-win-no-fee) Agreement you will not have to share your compensation with a third party (as you might if you use a claims manager) or pay a Success Fee based on a percentage of incurred costs (as you might if you use a solicitor). Instead you will keep all your compensation and will probably recover all your up-front expenditure if you win. But the extent of legal costs incurred before a settlement is reached is unknown. Personal and financial circumstances can change quickly as a result of unexpected life events (such as redundancy or a partner being incapacitated) and incurring the costs up-front could be disastrous if you cannot afford to bring the case to a conclusion or - worse still - lose the case in court. Claimants running of money place themselves in a weak bargaining position, both with the defendant and indeed their own legal advisers. The percentage payable to their solicitor as a Success Fee may be higher if they are negotiating from a position of weakness rather than strength and they need to cut a deal because they run out of money half-way through a case. The situation will be considerably worse if they take the case to its conclusion and lose. Before you decide to pay for a case from savings please be aware that:
If you lose you may well incur the Defendant's costs which may more-than-double your liability.
Conditional Fee Agreements (aka no-win-no-fee agreements)By far the most common way of making a personal injury claim, "No-win-no-fee" agreements (the correct term is 'conditional fee agreement') have mostly replaced legal aid as a way of paying for compensation claims. The principle is that if you do not win your case, you do not have to pay your solicitor’s fees. The common myth about no-win-no-fee: Most people wrongly believe that, win or lose; they will have nothing to pay. This isn't true. If you lose, you don't have to pay your solicitor’s fees – but you will usually have to pay your opponent’s costs! To cover against losing a case, reputable claims handlers and solicitors will usually advise you to take out an insurance policy to cover legal costs should you lose your case. The price of the premium for the policy will reflect the likelihood that your case will succeed (when costs are likely to be paid by the defendant). If the chances of success are high then the policy cost will not be prohibitively expensive. After-the-Event (ATE) insurance is an insurance policy you can take out after an accident has happened and you have decided to make a claim. If you lose your claim the insurance company will pay your opponent’s legal costs and expenses. Because you have decided to claim compensation, it does not mean that you will automatically be able to buy after-the-event insurance. Insurance companies will consider your chances of winning your case before deciding whether to offer you cover. If you do go ahead with a claim and you win your case, you should be able to get back most of the insurance premium and your legal costs from the other side. However be aware that some forms of after-the-event insurance (unlike those offered by injurywatch.co.uk's insurance services) give the insurer the right to:
Under other after-the-event policies, including those offered by injurywatch.co.uk's insurance services, your solicitor makes these decisions. How much you will pay for after-the-event insurance can vary considerably and will depend on several factors, including:
Costs of After-the-Event insuranceYou may have to pay a few hundred or several thousand pounds for insurance. Claims after road traffic accidents are generally cheaper to insure than, for example, claims for medical accidents or arising from a work-related disease. You can get free advice from injurywatch.co.uk's legal team if you need assistance As well as the initial premium some insurance companies also charge a ‘renewal’ premium on the anniversary of the insurance. This means that if your case takes a long time, perhaps because it is complex, you will have to pay a percentage of the original premium on each anniversary of the insurance until the claims has been dealt with. If you can't afford to pay the insurance premium up-front, your solicitor may pay this (and any other expenses relating to your case) for you, as long as you keep to the terms of the conditional fee agreement. In these circumstances the premium will be paid by your opponent if you win your case or may be paid by the insurance company if you lose. If your solicitor won’t do this for you, you may want to arrange a loan to enable you to pay the insurance premium and expenses. injurywatch.co.uk's legal team may be able to arrange a loan for you, but they will charge you a small fee for doing this. |
Claimable expenses
|
