MoJ delays no-win no-fee reforms

Part two of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, discussed by peers in the House of Lords yesterday (30 January) had been scheduled for implementation in October 2012 but is now due to be rolled out in April 2013.

The MoJ revealed its plans to reform the no-win, no-fee system in March 2011 (29 March 2011), claiming it has enabled lawyers to profit massively by charging ramped up fees that can be claimed back from the losing side.

Last month, the MoJ announced the delay of part one of the reforms governing civil and family legal aid, also from the originally proposed October 2012 to April 2013 (2 December 2011).

A spokesman for the MoJ said: “We are committed to reforming the ’no win, no fee’ system so that legal costs for reasonable compensation claims will be more proportionate, and avoidable claims will be deterred from going to court.

“This will require changes to legal rules and regulations and we want to give sufficient time to get the complex details right. We are also conscious that legal businesses will need sufficient time to plan for the changes, alongside other forthcoming regulatory and funding changes to the industry.”