This page covers No Win No Fee* agreements and Before The Event insurance.
No Win No Fee*
A No Win No Fee agreement, also known as a speculative funding agreement (SFA), is designed to ease worries about paying legal fees when making a personal injury claim. This includes:
- Claims for road traffic accidents
- Accidents at work
- Tripping and slipping cases
- Industrial disease claims
- Medical negligence cases against a private practitioner or the NHS.
These agreements mean that if your claim is successful, your opponent will cover most of the fees. If your case is unsuccessful, you pay nothing.*
No Win No Fee is only one of the funding options available, however. We’ll talk you through the alternatives - including legal expenses insurance and legal aid (if available) - and consider which is best for you.
*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.
If you win your case, we'll be entitled to charge you for any shortfall between the value of our work and the fees recovered from your opponent. We'll also charge a success fee which is based on the value of the work we have carried out – not the value of the damages you win.
We'll base the amount of the success fee (assessed as Low, Medium or High) on the risk involved in the case. We'll let you know what success fee we'll charge when first assessing your case.
The total of any shortfall and success fee is capped at an amount equivalent to 25% of any damages recovered, even if it is actually greater.
Example One
Damages recovered: £20,000
Cost of work carried out: £4,000
Fees recovered from opponent: £2,700
Shortfall: £1,300
Success fee (Low): 20% of £4000 = £800
Total payable (shortfall + success fee): £2100
Example Two
Damages recovered: £400,000
Cost of work carried out: £40,000
Fees recovered from opponent: £25,000
Shortfall: £15,000
Success fee (Medium): 50% of £40,000 = £20,000
Total payable (shortfall + success fee): £35,000
Example Three
Damages recovered: £1,000.000
Cost of work carried out: £90,000
Fees recovered from opponent: £65,000
Shortfall: £25,000
Success fee (High) 80% of £90,000 = £72,000
Total payable: £97,000
Example Four
Damages recovered: £15,000
Cost of work carried out: £5,000
Fees recovered from opponent £2,300
Shortfall: £2,700
Success fee (Medium): 50% x £5,000 = £2,500
Total Payable (shortfall + success fee): £3,750 (total £5,200 but capped at equivalent of 25% of damages)
Before The Event Insurance
Before the Event Insurance (BTE) is insurance that would have been in place before the accident, such as an add on to your motor insurance policy, your home insurance or via a credit union for example. If you have this policy and your claim meets the criteria under the terms of the policy, it means you should have no worries about paying legal fees when choosing to make a claim for personal injury through us.
Your legal expenses policy will explain what you are covered for and what you are not covered for. It will also explain if there are situations when you would be personally liable to pay legal costs. For example, if you decide to instruct another firm of solicitors or you do not follow our reasonable recommendations. Should there ever be a situation where you may reach the limit of your insurance cover we would discuss with you other options at that time, such as continuing under a Speculative Funding Agreement (SFA).
Under BTE if your claim is successful you will receive 100% of your compensation. You will have no liability for legal costs or disbursements as these will be met by the other side’s insurer. For example,
- Claim settlement: £3000
- Our costs as calculated under the Compulsory Pre Action Protocol: £1681.20 (recovered from the other drivers insurance)
- Amount you receive: £3000
If your claim is unsuccessful, any costs or disbursements incurred would be met by your insurers and you would not be liable to cover these costs.
