The other pages of the Personal Injury section of this website provide information relating to specific types of accident, there are however some general themes and useful information applicable to any type of claim.
Funding
Most personal injury cases are funded by a Conditional Fee Agreement, this is often referred to as a ‘no-win, no-fee’ agreement whereby if you win your claim the defendants agree to pay your legal costs and disbursements (expenses such as medical reports, records etc). If you lose your case then under the terms of the Conditional Fee Agreement we write off our legal costs so you do not have to pay them. Most Conditional Fee Agreements also have accompanying legal expenses insurance. If you do not already have this we can arrange a policy for you. The policy we would arrange for you is on a deferred premium basis and would cover the defendant’s costs and disbursements, your own disbursements (but not your own legal costs as these are written off) and the premium itself if you lost your case. At the moment if you win your case the defendant pays the premium as part of your legal costs (although this position may change depending on new legislation being introduced by the government).
Benefits
You may be in receipt of benefits as a result of the accident and the defendants have an obligation to pay back, on your behalf, certain benefits you have received to the Department of Work and Pensions. All claims are therefore registered with the Department of Work and Pensions who periodically issue a certificate detailing the amount of benefit you are due to repay. If you are not due to repay any benefits then the certificate will state the amount as being NIL. Not all benefits are deductable from your compensation and if this issue arises during the course of your claim we will discuss this in detail with you.
It is possible to protect your benefits
If you are on benefits you will be aware that you are only allowed a certain amount of money in savings before your benefits start to reduce or disappear completely. If you are awarded an amount of compensation that would put you at risk of having your benefits reduced or taken away, or at risk of having future benefits affected by your compensation then we will advise you how you can protect your benefits. Under current legislation the law allows you to create something that is known as a Personal Injury Trust in which you can place your compensation and where it will not affect your benefit entitlement. You are not permitted to put any other money in the trust, only the amount we have recovered on your behalf as part of your personal injury compensation claim. This is a complex area and we will discuss this with you in more detail during your claim if it becomes necessary.
Contact: Julie McCallion or Selina Martin
Stevenage Office: 01438 346000. Bedford Office: 01234 858000. email
