This article discusses how it could benefit you to seek assistance from No Win No Fee solicitors when beginning a claim. We will provide information about the types of claims that No Win No Fee solicitors could help you pursue. All our solicitors work on this basis when they represent a claim.
Later in the article, we’ll also explain how payouts are calculated for certain types of claims. We’ll show examples of the compensation brackets found within the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), a document solicitors usually refer to when assessing certain aspects of a claim. You can use the figures found below as a guide for how much your claim could be worth.
Read on for more information about the benefits of working with a solicitor who offers this type of arrangement. Additionally, contact Accident Claims UK using several different methods. During a free consultation, our advisers can answer your questions about the claims process. To learn more:
- Complete our ‘Contact Us’ form to request a callback
- Phone 0800 073 8801
- Talk to our team in the chatbox below
No Win No Fee Solicitors
Browse Our Guide
- What Cases Do No Win No Fee Agreements Apply To?
- How Does No Win No Fee Work?
- Do I Need To Work With No Win No Fee Solicitors Near-Me?
- Potential Compensation Payouts
- Connect With No Win No Fee Solicitors Today
- Learn More About Compensation Claims
What Cases Do No Win No Fee Agreements Apply To?
In general, solicitors can offer their services under a No Win No Fee – agreement for several types of compensation claims. For instance, they may choose to work under this type of agreement for:
- Personal injury cases, which include road traffic accident claims, public liability claims, and accident-at-work compensation claims such as manual handling claims.
- Medical negligence claims, which involve a medical professional breaching the duty of care they owed to their patient, causing avoidable or unnecessary harm.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll provide more information about how solicitors could assist with the types of claims mentioned above. However, it’s important to note they could provide this agreement for:
- Personal data breach claims, which can be pursued when certain entities fail to uphold their legal responsibilities when processing personal data
- Criminal injury claims a way of claiming compensation as the victim of a violent crime.
It should be noted that data breach claims and criminal injury claims have different eligibility requirements. Therefore, the information we provide in the rest of this article does not necessarily apply to these types of claims.
Claim Time Limits
A key element that affects your eligibility to begin a claim is to ensure you file it within the legal time limits. The Limitation Act 1980, a piece of legislation, determines that personal injury and medical negligence claims must begin within:
- 3 years of the incident date.
- 3 years of the date you realised the harm you experienced occurred due to negligence. This is known as your date of knowledge. In general, this is mostly relevant to medical negligence cases.
There are exceptions to these time limits. If you’d like more information, contact our advisers to ask how long after being injured you could start a claim.
How Does No Win No Fee Work?
If you want to make a claim for compensation and you’re eligible to do so, you may be considering using a solicitor to assist with your case.
After all, a solicitor with experience in helping claimants with a wide range of personal injury claims could help to gather evidence and negotiate compensation for you.
One of our solicitors could assist with your case under a No Win No Fee arrangement. But how does No Win No Fee work?
Generally speaking, if a solicitor takes your case on under a document called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee agreement, you will not have to pay them upfront for their work. Nor would you have to pay them throughout the process of your claim.
Instead, if your claim were successful and resulted in a payout, they would deduct a small legally capped fee from the payout. If your claim was to fail, and there was no compensation, you would not typically have to pay them for their work.
How Much Do No Win No Fee Solicitors Take?
Instead of charging upfront or ongoing service fees, a No Win No Fee solicitor is reimbursed at the end of the claims process, but only if your claim succeeds. If you are awarded compensation, your solicitor deducts a success fee from this payout.
Our solicitors may offer you a specific type of agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under the terms of this agreement, the maximum amount your solicitor can charge as a success fee is 25% of your compensation.
Your solicitor will discuss success fees with you before you enter into any agreements. The intention of a CFA is to reimburse your solicitor for their services while ensuring you get the majority of your compensation.
What Happens If You Lose A No Win No Fee Claim?
If your claim is unsuccessful, your solicitor will not take a success fee. You generally don’t have to pay for the services of a No Win No Fee solicitor if your claim fails.
Different law firms and different solicitors will have their own take on a No Win No Fee Agreement. Not one size fits all. So it is vital that you always read any agreement given to you by your solicitor before you sign it. Make sure to understand what you are signing.
Do I Need To Work With No Win No Fee Solicitors Near-Me?
Due to technological advances, you are no longer restricted to using the services of solicitors near where you live. This is good news because you cannot guarantee the lawyers nearest you have the expertise you require for your claim.
Instead, you can now use the Internet and phones to locate the solicitors best suited to work on your case. For instance, if you have been injured by a faulty automatic door, you could consult with a solicitor who lives on the other side of the country and yet specialises in claims made for accidents in a public place.
Contact our team of advisers for more information. If they feel your claim is valid, our team may be able to put you in touch with one of our solicitors.
Potential Compensation Payouts
Compensation for personal injury claims and medical negligence claims can include a single payment that combines up to two heads of claim. These two heads are called general damages, intended to compensate you for the physical or psychological suffering you experience, and special damages, which can be a method of reclaiming financial losses caused by your injuries.
When assessing a claim, solicitors will usually refer to a document known as the JCG, which contains compensation brackets for types of injury. We’ve provided some of these figures in the table below. However, please remember these are only guidelines. Your real-life circumstances may vary from the descriptions given in the JCG.
Examples of General Damages Guidelines
| Harm or Injury | JCG Compensation Brackets | Severity | More Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| (b) Brain Damage | £219,070 – £282,010 | Moderately Severe | Individual experiences serious disability that may be physical or cognitive in nature. |
| (a) Leg Injury | £201,490 – £270,100 | Amputation (ii) | Injury that involves below-knee amputation of both legs. |
| (a) Female Reproductive System | £114,900 – £170,280 | Infertility | Injury or disease that causes infertility, severe depression, and other symptoms. For example, the failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy in a young person. |
| (a) Back Injury | £91,090 – £160,980 | Severe (i) | Cases of the most severe injuries involving spinal cord and nerves, leading to consequences such as severe pain and disability. |
| (b) Back Injury | £27,760 – £38,780 | Moderate (i) | Residual disability is not as severe as in other injuries. This bracket could include crush/compression fractures of lumbar vertebrae leading to constant pain and discomfort. |
| (a) Arm Injury | £96,160 – £130,930 | Severe | These injuries fall short of amputation but leave the person little better off than if the limb had been lost. |
| (a) Shoulder | £19,200 – £48,030 | Severe | Serious injury to the brachcial plexus and injuries to the neck area. |
| (b) Chest Injury | £65,740 – £100,670 | Traumatic | Injury to chest, heart or lungs, causing impairment of function, damage that is permanent, and reduction of life expentancy. |
| (b) Hand Injury | £55,820 – £84,570 | Serious | Injuries that cause significant loss of function and cosmetic disability that is permanent. |
| (a) Ankle Injury | £50,060 – £69,700 | Very Severe | Cases such as bilateral ankle fractures that cause joint degeneration at a young age, requiring arthrodesis. |
Additionally, your claim could benefit from another head of claim known as special damages. This is intended as a means to help you recoup financial losses caused by the negligent harm you experienced, including:
- Lost wages, past and future
- Prescription medications
- Specific medical treatments required for rehabilitation
This list isn’t comprehensive, so contact our advisers to ask about special damages.
Connect With No Win No Fee Solicitors Today
Our solicitors specialise in all areas of personal injury, medical negligence, data breach claims and criminal injury cases and have the knowledge and experience to ensure your case is filed correctly and completely. Our No Win No Fee solicitors can work with you under the terms of a CFA, meaning that you could avoid paying for their services if your claim fails.
Contact Us
Our team of advisers can tell you more about how a No Win No Fee agreement could help you. Furthermore, they may be able to put you in touch with one of our solicitors, but only if you want to proceed. So learn more today:
- Complete our ‘Contact Us’ form to request a callback
- Phone 0800 073 8801
- Talk to our team in the chatbox below
Learn More About Compensation Claims
Additional claims guides that may help:
A Guide On How To Make A Racking Or Shelving Accident Claim
How To Claim For An Accident On A One-Way Road
How To Make A Medical Negligence Claim
Related topics:
Employer’s Responsibilities – Information from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) about responsibilities that employers owe to their employees
The Highway Code – UK Government resource with road safety guidance, some of which is backed up by law
Good Medical Practice – General Medical Council (GMC) ethical guidance for doctors
Thank you for reading about the benefits of using No Win No Fee solicitors. If you’d like more information, contact us using one of the methods described above.