On the 9th September it was confirmed by the government that there would be a ban on referral fees for personal injury claims. A referral fee is a fee paid by a solicitor or claims management company in return for the details of people who have been involved in an accident, and have got good prospects for a successful personal injury claim.
This fee is often in the region of £200 to £1,000. Worst of all, the victims who’s details are getting passed to third parties probably do not want their details being distributed if they knew that they were. A solicitor will often pay this referral fee because they consider that in the long run they will be able to make money from the claim. For example, a solicitor may pay £400 for your details – they get you to pursue your claim with them and win it, and they get paid a few thousand pounds by the Defendant’s in respect of their costs. In other words, they make a tidy profit.
At The Injury Lawyers we have always spoken out about referral fees and have never paid a referral fee to any company. As such, we welcome this ban on referral fees. This is because we do not consider that they are a good thing for the client. For example, if we were to spend £400 on your buying your claim through a referral fee, that is £400 less we now have to spend on progressing your claim as efficiently as possible.
Further, just because you have a potential claim does mean that you necessarily want to pursue it, and we think it is wrong of some other firms to pester potential clients for their custom where they have paid a referral fee. You have the right to decide whether you want to pursue a claim and should not be harassed into making a claim simply because someone has paid an extortionate amount of money for your details.
At The Injury Lawyers we are proud that all of our clients choose to come to us directly, or have come to us through a recommendation of a friend. We pride ourselves on the quality of service we offer and we are pleased that people want to instruct us of our own accord. We have never paid someone for a claim and are glad that this ban on referral fees has come in.
We save the money wasted on referral fees to provide you with a top quality service level. We have spoken with many victims of the referral fee system who are subject to poor service levels as their solicitor cannot afford to do the best by them; nor can they afford to fight tooth and nail for the maximum payout!
Potential under settling due to the referral fee system is a known problem.
If you believe you have a claim for compensation arising out of injuries you have suffered at the hands of a negligent third party, get in touch today and we will be happy to provide you with some free legal advice.
