Compensation Culture

As the Government plan to ban “No Win No Fee” agreements their plans have been attacked from an unexpected source.

The Government say that their ban aims to tackle our nation’s “”Compensation Culture” however all of the research and statistics shows that, whilst many believe that the UK has a “Compensation Culture”, the truth is that we do not and people are not making any more claims for compensation than they ever have in the past.

Despite this, having come under pressure from big business, the Government has announced that it intends to ban so called “No Win No Fee” arrangements whereby lawyers pursue claims without asking their clients to pay legal fees up front.

Lawyers have long argued that the system is fair because it allows ordinary members of the public to challenge big corporations with deep pockets however these concerns have, largely, been ignored.

Now the family of Milly Dowler have spoken out in support of the system. They say that the planned changes would have stopped them seeking compensation from News International. They say that without the “No Win No Fee” system they "would not have been able to start a case or even threaten it".

Interestingly this story received little publicity because the media, who help promote the myth of a “Compensation Culture”, support the government’s proposals. This is not surprising when ordinary members of the public can use it to seek redress against the powerful press.

So the government now has to decide whether it wants to ban a system which big business, insurance companies and media barons oppose or leave it in place to help ordinary people seek redress.