Getting initial advice

You should always get advice before:

• contacting the person or organisation you think caused the injury (though you should tell your employer at once if you were injured at work)
• replying to any letters or offers to settle your claim.

injurywatch.co.uk's free, confidential, no obligation claim support legal helpdesk can provide assistance.

Call 0800 066 99 07 and get our personal injury team working for you straight away. The call is free, the advice is free and nothing will ever be deducted from your compensation.

Handling personal injury cases

The three main types of organisatons handling personal injury compensation claims are:

• solicitors (usually specialist solicitors), who will negotiate on your behalf and may or may not take a claim to court;
• claims assessors, businesses and individuals that will negotiate on your behalf and may refer you to a solicitor if they are unsuccessful;
• claims management companies, which for a fee, will arrange for a solicitor to deal with your case.

  "Both claims managers and solicitors will operate on a "no win no fee basis". But using a solicitor means you will get the full value of your compensation if your case is successful whereas claims management companies normally take a proportion of your compensation for providing their 'services'..."

Solicitors

Using a solicitor does not necessarily mean your case will go to court. Almost all personal injury cases are settled through negotiation without a court hearing. But both claims assessors and claims management companies will need to engage a solicitor if your case does go to court.

For personal injury compensation cases it is preferable to appoint a specialist solicitor rather than use an old family retainer.

You can pay your legal fees as they fall due, but many solicitors specialising in personal injury will work on a conditional fee (also called a no-win-no-fee) basis.

If a solicitor is working on a conditional fee basis they will normally charge an additional Success Fee if they win your case.

If you win all your solicitor's costs including the Success Fee will usually be met by the defendant and you will receive the full value of the compensation you are awarded.

Hiring a trained, specialist solicitor means you are benefiting from expert advice from someone whose conduct and charges are regulated by a respectable body in The Law Society.

Legalwatch maintains details of a panel of solicitors specialising in personal injury and it is almost certain that we have a solicitor suitable for your case working in your immediate area.

However we also maintain a register of specialist lawyers for more complex cases, including solicitors specialising in group actions (sometimes called class actions).

In all cases the practices we recommend are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Claims Standards Council. Please contact injurywatch.co.uk's free, confidential, no obligation claim support legal helpdesk for assistance.

In most cases it is convenient to appoint a solicitor who is reasonably local to where you live or work, however some cases, particularly medical cases, can require a higher level of legal expertise and experience and you may need to travel further afield to receive the best advice.

If other people have been injured in the same way as you (for example, in a plane crash or by taking an unsafe medicine), it may be better for you to join with them in taking legal action. Group actions require expert legal advice. They are a specialist area and few practices in the UK have experience of conducting them. You should contact injurywatch.co.uk's legal team for more assistance.

Claims assessors and claims management companies

There is no legal definition of "Claims Assessors" or "Claims Management Companies" nor indeed any legal qualification or licence required to become one.

In general, Claims Assessors are experienced operators in the "Claims Industry" who use their knowledge of typical awards to negotiate the appropriate degree of compensation for your case. Claims assessors usually don’t use solicitors and thus can only negotiate directly with the organisation you believe is responsible for your injury.

They cannot take court action for you nor represent you in court. This means that if they cannot get the right compensation for you, you will then have to use a solicitor to start court action. This kind of delay may put you beyond the time limits for bringing a claim and the defendant may use their knowledge of this to drag the case out to expiry.

Claims Management Companies will normally engage a solicitor to deal with your case. The claims management company will usually charge you on a "contingency fee" basis which - unlike a solicitor working directly for you whose costs will be met by the defence - means they will take a proportion of the compensation due to you if the claim is successful.

Most claims management companies attempt to entice customers by proudly announcing that they work on a "no-win-no-no-fee" basis. This is true, but if your claim fails, the costs of the defence are likely to be awarded against you. To cover this eventuality the claims management company will often sell you an expensive insurance policy, and possibly arrange a loan to pay for it.

Commission-based salary schemes for salesmen and the fact that most claims management companies earn a commission on both the insurance policy and the loan they obtain for you has encouraged some companies to encourage potential customers to make frivolous and even fraudulent claims and legal insurance policies arranged through a claims manager are often more expensive.

There is no obligation on you to buy the policy or loan offered by the claims manager and even if you decide to pursue your claim with them, you should always shop around for the best deals on legal insurance. Contact crashguard, injurywatch's insurance and accident service for further assistance. They are fully regulated by the Financial Services Authority and can offer guidance and advice.

injurywatch.co.uk's legal advice is to get a specialist Personal Injury Lawyer to handle your claim. It's cheaper, more effective and you get the full value of your compensation. Please contact our free, confidential, no obligation legal claim support support team for further assistance.