The fall of legal aid and the rise of no win no fee
Prior to 2000, legal aid was available when making a personal injury claim. This meant that once you sought out the most experienced, Law Society approved solicitor and they agreed to take on your claim, they would apply for legal aid on your behalf which would cover their fees in the event that you lost your case.
However, the fall of legal aid for personal injury claims has seen a significant rise in the conditional fee agreement.
Problems with legal aid
Although many successfully utilised the government funded scheme when pursuing personal injury cases, others highlighted problems with legal aid that lead to its demise in this area of law.
The legal aid scheme was limited in that it was generally only made available in areas in which lawyers were familiar, it was under-funded and did not serve the requirements of those that were most in need of legal help such as the working-class, poor and disadvantaged sections of society.
Specifically, the cost associated with making a claim through the scheme deterred many potential clients. Those that use legal aid may have to pay a contribution if their claim is successful in order to cover their solicitor's fees. This can mean that a client ends up with next to no compensation after statutory charges have been deducted.
Other problems involve widespread lack of knowledge of legal rights and the means of enforcing them, which legal aid did not try to resolve, as well as the bureaucratic, inflexible nature of the scheme.
Another major problem is that legal aid eats away at public funds and with more than 700,000 people making compensation claims every year, public funds began to dwindle at an astonishing rate.
Out with the old.
Based on the reasons highlighted above, the decision to abolish legal aid for personal injury cases was made in 1998 and came into force in 2000. This means that legal aid is no longer available for personal injury cases, with the exception of some medical negligence claims.
Conditional fee agreements, also known as no win no fee policies, are now used by most personal injury firms. Read about the no win no fee agreement.
We do not require you to pay our fees if your claim is unsuccessful. On the other hand, if your claim is successful your solicitor's fees can be recovered from your opponent's insurance company and you will not have to part with a penny. Read more about after-the-event insurance.
One benefit of the no win no fee policy is that compensation claimants have a better advantage of gaining a compensation award that could make a substantial difference to their lives.
The main motivation for claiming personal injury compensation is to pay for expenses that have incurred since the injury was sustained such as medical costs, to recover lost past and future earnings and to pay for any lifestyle changes such as having wheelchair ramps installed in your home.
Without the money gained from a compensation award, many people would not only be suffering the pain and discomfort of their injury but may also find themselves falling deeper and deeper into debt as they continue with their lives. This is essentially why gaining the full amount of compensation is so vital and why we always guarantee that you will receive the full award. Read more about your claim entitlements.
Making a no win no fee personal injury claim today
If you have been involved in a non-fault accident and wish to make a no win no fee compensation claim then we are here to help.
Our personal injury solicitors are proud of their excellent claim success rate and will guide you through each step of the claim process, provide you with free legal advice and fight to get you the most compensation available for your type of injury.
To start your no win no fee claim without delay simply give us a call on 0800 197 32 32 today.
