What Are No Win No Fee Agreements In Personal Injury Law?

By Marlon Dawson. Last Updated 8th September 2022. You may be looking into No Win No Fee agreements because you’ve suffered an injury in an accident you weren’t liable for. This guide explains all you need to know about them. By using the services of a personal injury solicitor from our panel, you could receive thousands of pounds in compensation. This guide will answer questions such as, “what percentage do solicitors take for No Win No Fee agreements?” and “are there any No Win No Fee charges?”

Our advisors are available 24/7, offer free legal advice and can tell you in just one phone call if you’re eligible to pursue a personal injury claim. Our specialised panel of No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors have years of experience and can help build your case to help you receive compensation. Contact us today using the details below.

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Additionally, please read on to learn more about when you could receive No Win No Fee compensation.

What are No Win No Fee agreements?

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How Does A No Win No Fee Claim Work?
How To Make A No Win No Fee Claim
What Types Of Personal Injury Claims Can You Make Under No Win No Fee Agreements?
Average Compensation Payouts For Claims Under No Win No Fee Agreements
Why Choose Us To Help You Make Your Personal Injury Claim?
Get More Help With No Win No Fee Agreements

How Does A No Win No Fee Claim Work?

In this part of the guide, the benefits of using these types of agreements will be explained. You can technically make a personal injury claim without a lawyer, solicitor or any legal help. This approach can bear no additional costs at the beginning of the claims process. However, you could incur other costs during it. These costs could be, for instance, for obtaining medical reports or paying medical experts for an assessment of your injuries.

The potential costs of funding a solicitor’s services are why it can be convenient to use No Win No Fee agreements because this expenditure can be covered through this agreement. Furthermore, other benefits of using a No Win No Fee personal injury lawyer include:

Not paying solicitor fees at any point during the claims process.
Only paying solicitor fees if your claim is successful.

This is because solicitor fees are paid to your solicitor once the settlement has been reached. You won’t pay these fees if the claim isn’t successful, which is why they’re referred to as No Win No Fee agreements.

In No Win No Fee, who pays the costs?

As part of the legal proceedings, your personal injury solicitor will recommend that you take out After The Event (ATE) insurance. This is to cover you in case your claim isn’t successful. This covers costs such as the defendant’s legal expert fees or court costs. Usually, getting this insurance policy is a necessary part of having a No Win No Fee agreement.

There are pieces of legislation that clarify important aspects of No Win No Fee conditional fee agreements. (No Win No Fee agreements are formally called conditional fee agreements.) In the UK, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 established that the claimant needs to pay their lawyer or solicitor a success fee if they receive compensation.

The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 also caps the amount of the success fee in a conditional fee agreement. This means that your personal injury lawyer can only take up to 25% of your compensation to cover their legal fees. This helps answer the question, “how much do No Win No Fee lawyers take?”

Should your claim be successful, the other side would pay for other legal costs, such as expert fees or court costs.

If you still have queries about the percentage that could be taken from your compensation, please call our advisors at a time that works for you. They’re available 24/7, can answer any questions you have and can inform you in a few minutes if you’re eligible to claim.

What Percentage Do Solicitors Take For No Win No Fee?

The percentage solicitors will take in a No Win No Fee claim depends on the agreement they have in place with the claimants.

However, the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 puts a cap on the percentage amount that solicitors can take as payment. This is 25% of the awarded compensation.

It is possible for solicitors to offer a No Win No Fee agreement at a rate below the legal cap. Rates are usually discussed between solicitors and claimants during initial discussions – if you are interested in working with a solicitor at a lower rate, this can be one of the questions you present when speaking with solicitors, to help you decide if they are the solicitors that best meet your needs.

To help you make your decision, you can also reach out to a member of our team to discuss common rates No Win No Fee solicitors and the services they could offer for your claim.

How To Make A No Win No Fee Claim

The most important aspect of successfully receiving compensation through a personal injury claim is proving that another party’s negligence caused your injuries. Certain parties have a duty of care to you. This means they have a legal obligation to make sure, within reason, that your health and safety is protected. For example, your employer should take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that the space you work in is safe. Those in control of places accessible to the public should take reasonable steps to ensure you’re able to use their facilities and premises safely and securely.

This is important because when you’re claiming compensation, you’re only successful by proving that the third party broke this duty of care and caused your injuries. Their actions would then need to lead to your injury. These are the three components of negligence:

Firstly, that the third party has a duty of care
Secondly, that their actions breached this duty
Finally, that, you suffered an injury because of this.

You would also need evidence to prove causation to link their negligent actions to your injury. Evidence you could use includes witness accounts, copies of medical scans, CCTV footage and photographs of your injury. Perhaps the strongest piece of evidence would be the report following an independent medical assessment you’d attend as part of the claims process.

Being able to prove this can be integral to you successfully getting No Win No Fee agreements as the solicitor or lawyer will only take your case if they feel you have a reasonably good chance of success.

What Types Of Personal Injury Claims Can You Make Under No Win No Fee Agreements?

You may be wondering, “what types of incidents can your panel of No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors help with?” They can help by making agreements with you for many different types of accidents.

Road Traffic Accidents

Every road user in Great Britain has a duty of care to make sure they are safely and securely using them. Therefore, if you’ve been injured in a road traffic accident due to someone else’s negligent driving, you may be able to claim. This is clarified in The Highway Code. However, please remember that if your injuries are assessed to be worth less than £5,000, you would need to claim through a different method. This is illustrated in The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. (If you’re unsure of how much your claim might be worth, get in touch. Many people undervalue their own injuries.)

Accidents at Work

Every employer has a duty of care to their employees. In the UK, this is established in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Employers need to ensure, within reason, that their facilities and equipment can be used safely and securely without causing harm to the employers. Therefore, you could claim if, for example, you’ve used faulty equipment supplied by your employer and were injured as a result.

Accidents in Public Places

Every controller of public space, or occupier, is responsible, within reason, for the safety and wellbeing of the public on their premises. This means that, for example, a council that controls a public park should ensure that any potential health and safety risks are assessed and remedied. Otherwise, if a member of the public injures themselves on a faulty swing the council was aware of but didn’t fix, for instance, they may be able to claim compensation.

This is established in the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. To learn more about this, please get in touch with our team of advisors using the details above.

Average Compensation Payouts For Claims Under No Win No Fee Agreements

You may want more information about how much compensation you could receive when making a claim. There are two potential heads of claim. Firstly, general damages compensation covers the physical pain and psychological damage caused by the injury. This also compensates you for the negative impact the injury has had on your quality of life.

Through research, the Judicial College has built reliable compensation brackets to give you a greater understanding of what you could receive. They’ve done this by analysing previous payouts, relating them to the specific injury. We use this information to provide you with as reliable a compensation estimate as possible.

Below is a list of injuries and their respective potential compensation brackets. The Judicial College has supplied these figures and we’re only using them for illustrative purposes.

Type of Injury		Amount of Compensation	Description
Bladder	(b) Complete loss of function and control.	Up to £140,660	This injury will result in complete loss of control and function.
Foot	(c) Very Severe	£83,960 to £109,650	This bracket includes injuries that lead to permanent and really serious disabilities including traumatic amputation of the forefoot or the loss of a substantial portion of the heel.
Fingers	(d) Amputation of Index and Middle and/or Ring Fingers	£61,910 to £90,750	This injury will lead to the amputation of middle and index finger and/or the ring finger rendering the hand of very little use due to the grip being exceedingly weak.
Arm	(b) Injuries Resulting in Permanent and Substantial Disablement	£39,170 to £59,860	Injuries in this bracket include serious fractures to either one or both forearms causing permanent and significant residual disability. This could be either cosmetic or functional.
Kidney	(c) Loss of one kidney with no damage to the other.	£30,770 to £44,880	This injury will result in the loss of one kidney. However, no damage will be done to the other.
Knee	(a) Severe (iii)	£26,190 to £43,460	This bracket includes less severe leg injuries resulting in less severe disabilities being caused as a result. Continuing symptoms such as discomfort, pain and limitation of movement will be caused.
Back	(b) Moderate (i)	£27,760 to £38,780	Injuries in this bracket will cause less serious residual disabilities including lumbar vertebrae compression/crush fractures and an intervertebral disc that has prolapsed, requiring surgery.
Jaw	Fractures (ii)	£17,960 to £30,490	This injury leads to permanent consequences due to the serious fracture. Difficulties from this include difficulties while eating or when opening the mouth.
Leg	(c) Less Serious Leg Injuries (i)	£17,960 to £27,760	Injuries in this bracket are leg fractures where an incomplete recovery is made. This bracket could also include soft tissue injuries of a serious nature.
Knee	(b) Moderate (ii)	Up to £13,740	Injuries in this bracket includes torn cartilage, dislocation, twisting, bruising or laceration injuries.

Additionally, you can claim for financial losses caused by the injury through special damages. This includes being able to claim for a loss of earnings if you’re unable to work, the costs of making adjustments to your home if you have a disability, travel costs for appointments and medical bills.

Why Choose Us To Make Your No Win No Fee Claim?

Our panel of solicitors are specialists in personal injury law, meaning they can help you whether you’ve suffered from an injury at work or a car accident that wasn’t your fault. They are diligent, honest and open with you from the beginning of the claims process.

Our advisors are available 24/7 so, if you have any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with them. If you’re still unsure and have questions or queries, please call for free legal advice at a time that works for you. Contact us using the details below.

Use the phone number above to call us.
Use the Live Chat window to write to us.
You can also contact us through our website.

Get More Help With No Win No Fee Agreements

If you want to know more relating to personal injury claims, please use the links below.

Refer to this guide from the government website to learn about other methods of attempting to receive compensation.

Road traffic accident statistics for Great Britain are supplied by the Department for Transport. Please find out about this on their website.

Want to know more about pre-action conduct and protocols? If so, visit this website.

Why not check out more of our personal injury claims guides below:

If you’d still like more information, please contact us at a time that works for you to learn more about the benefits of using No Win No Fee agreements.

Written by DUR

Published by VIC