Reform on costs could hit safety-related claims

The coalition government has announced plans to reform the civil justice system, which could have repercussions for workers taking safety-related claims. The proposals include increasing the maximum value of claims that small claims courts can handle to £15,000 and the minimum value of claims handled by the High court to £100,000; automatic mediation, improved enforcement and changes to “no win, no fee” arrangements.

The last change, that success fees and associated costs not be recoverable from the losing party and must instead come from the claimant, is controversial. This is because, as well as reducing the compensation that an individual receives, it will limit the cases that lawyers will be willing to take on.

Union solicitors Thompsons said: “Those with good cases but less than 75% chance of success will be left with no compensation because lawyers won’t be able take on cases tomorrow that they would today. The most vulnerable claimants are being hung out to dry to increase insurance company profits.”