Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has recently stated that the impending legislation that will ban referral fees will only be applied to personal injury claims cases.
Mr Djanogly remarked in a recent interview that the referral fee ban will not be applied to any cases besides personal injury compensation matters. However, the legislation will be drafted in such a way as to make it possible to do more in the future, if the Government ever feels the need to do so.
Mr Djanogly, speaking alongside transport minister Mike Penning, said that the problem of referral fees are not a cause of the accident claim compensation culture currently plaguing the country, but just a symptom. The justice minister lumped referral fees into the same basket as other forms of inducement advertising such as SMS texting, and called them all symptoms of compensation culture.
The Government is examining both the payment and the receipt of referral fees, said Mr Djanogly, adding that he hopes all of the provisions will be incorporated into the Legal Aid Bill he has been pushing for, though that bill has not yet been fully signed off upon. Citing Lord Justice Jackson’s recent recommendations for reform that would be implemented in the bill, the justice minister said that the referral fee ban would tie in quite well.
Like Mr Djanogly, Mr Penning stated that he is quite keen to work towards pushing this bill through, stating that it would form the core of a package that will begin to address insurance costs in the UK. There has not yet been any possible dates put forward for the adoption of these new regulations, sources say.