One of the most common questions our personal injury solicitors get asked is “how much will it cost to make a claim?” It’s a perfectly natural concern to have, particularly if you’re off work due to your injury.
When you make a no win no fee claim with us, you won’t have to pay a penny out of your own pocket. If you’re worried about how much it might cost to make a personal injury claim, we’ve put together some information below.
To arrange a free initial consultation about your claim, please call us on 0800 056 4110 or contact us online. This consultation is completely no obligation, and you will receive some free advice about whether you have a claim, how likely you are of winning and how your case could be funded.
Will I need to pay anything upfront?
When you make a no win no fee claim with us you will not have to pay anything upfront.
With no win no fee, the only time you will need to pay something is if you win. In most cases you will keep the majority of your compensation, and we will work to keep your liabilities for legal costs to a minimum by recovering as much as possible from your opponent.
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How are personal injury claims funded?
No win no fee
Most of the claims we handle are on a no win no fee basis. This means that you won’t pay us anything unless your case is successful.
No win no fee arrangements are also known as conditional fee agreements, or CFAs.
This involves taking out an insurance policy (known as “After the Event” or ATE insurance) on your behalf. The policy covers our legal fees and costs if you your case is unsuccessful.
If your case is successful your opponent will pay the majority of our legal costs, with any costs we can’t recover being deducted from your compensation award.
If your case is unsuccessful then there is no financial risk to you* (you won’t have to pay anything).
Legal expenses insurance
This is a type of insurance that is either included, or an optional extra on home or motor insurance policies. It’s designed to cover your legal costs for making or defending a claim.
Legal expenses insurance is often called “before the event” insurance, because you would have taken out the cover before you suffered your injury.
It may be possible to use legal expenses insurance to fund your personal injury claim, but this will depend on the terms of your policy and its claims limit.
Our specialist lawyers will review your policy documents and let you know whether you could fund your claim through legal expenses insurance. Please call us on +44 (0)800 056 4110 or contact us online to arrange a free initial consultation about your case.
Trade union membership
If you’re a member of a trade union, one of the benefits may be that they will fund your personal injury claim for you.
However, the exact nature of this funding and how it works will depend on the union you are a member of.
Our solicitors can advise you about whether your trade union might fund your claim in a free initial consultation. We work on behalf of many trade unions and their members, so are very experienced in this type of funding.
Legal aid
Legal aid is only available for certain types of birth injury that were caused by medical negligence.
These are restricted to claims involving serious neurological birth injuries (such as cerebral palsy), which happened within eight weeks of a child’s birth.
Read more about legal aid for neurological birth injuries.
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Do I have to pay anything if my case is unsuccessful?
Most of the claims we handle are on a no win no fee basis. That means that if your case is unsuccessful, we will not make any charge to you whatsoever, and any costs such as medical reports would be covered by insurance.
Your opponent’s legal costs would also be covered by insurance.
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What do I pay if my case is successful?
If your case has been funded through a no win no fee agreement and you win, you won’t have to pay a penny out of your own pocket until your claim has successfully come to an end. Any of the costs and disbursements we can’t recover from your opponent will be deducted from the compensation awarded to you.
We will regularly update you about the costs being charged to your case so that you’re fully aware how much will be deducted from your compensation.
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Contact us
If you have any questions about funding your personal injury claim, please call us on +44 (0)800 056 4110 to arrange a free initial consultation about your case. Alternatively, please contact us online and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
All Scottish cases will be handled by the Scottish law firm with which we are associated, Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP. The law relating to funding is different in Scotland and you will receive separate advice about what that means as well as a separate funding agreement.
*To make a no win no fee claim, you need to enter into an agreement that's linked to a suitable insurance policy. We'll explain this in more detail before we start your claim.
