Consultation outcome

Fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to England and Wales

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Detail of outcome

This response sets out the way forward for implementing a fixed recoverable costs scheme for lower damages clinical negligence claims. The aim is to facilitate faster resolution for claimants and defendants at a lower, more proportionate cost than under the current system.

The response sets out further detail on the fixed costs, the new pre-action process for these claims and the safeguards we have in place to protect claimants’ access to justice.  Changes to the original proposals, informed by the consultation, include:

  • increased fixed costs at all stages of the process

  • increased bolt-on amounts for claims involving protected parties and children

  • giving defendants responsibility for neutral evaluation costs

  • excluding certain claims from the scheme on grounds of complexity

We are also conducting a further short consultation on the issue of disbursements under the scheme.


Original consultation

Summary

Proposes the introduction of fixed recoverable costs and a new streamlined process in clinical negligence claims up to a value of £25,000 in England and Wales.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

This consultation proposes a new scheme to enable claimants and defendants to achieve faster resolution of ‘lower value’ clinical negligence claims (claims valued up to and including £25,000) at a lower, more proportionate cost than under the current system.

This includes:

  • a new streamlined process for claims
  • limits to the amount of legal costs that can be recovered by claimant lawyers for lower value clinical negligence claims

The proposals would only affect the amount of legal costs that claimant lawyers can recover following a successful claim, not the compensation that a claimant could receive.

Documents

Updates to this page

Published 31 January 2022
Last updated 15 September 2023 + show all updates
  1. Added a link to the consultation 'Fixed recoverable costs in lower damages clinical negligence claims – a supplementary consultation on disbursements'.

  2. Added a consultation response, equality duty analysis and impact assessment.

  3. First published.

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