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You’ve no doubt seen the TV adverts where serious people in suits walk around shiny office buildings and tell you you can keep 100% of your compensation if you succeed with a No Win No Fee claim, but is this true?. To offer a little more information, we’ve created this page to examine if you could keep 100% of your compensation following a successful claim.
Legal Helpline’s expert panel of solicitors have years of experience in personal injury law, handling every type of claim you can imagine. This knowledge and experience will be of great use to you during your own claim as the solicitors on our panel can provide a bespoke range of services and support that suits your specific needs.
Key Takeaways
- No Win No Fee claims are where the client instructs a legal representative on a No Win No Fee basis.
- This means a contract has been signed stating that no solicitor’s service fees will be paid upfront, as the claim progresses or if it fails.
- While some firms may advertise that you can keep 100% of your compensation, this can be a little misleading.
- Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors will deduct a success fee from the compensation payout before sending the rest to you following a successful claim.
- Legal Helpline maintains a 24 hour advice service so if you have questions about No Win No Fee claims, we’re always here to help.
You can view our frequently asked questions on personal injury compensation for further information. If you want to speak to a member of the team, use our live chat or click the buttons below. In addition to offering free advice, our advisors can assess your eligibility to claim for free.
Select A Section
- Can I Keep 100% Of My Compensation With A No Win No Fee Claim?
- What Is A No Win No Fee Claim?
- What Changes Have Happened To No Win No Fee?
- What Are The Different Compensation Claim Funding Models?
- No Win No Fee Hidden Costs – What Happens If Your Claim Is Not Successful?
- Talk About Your No Win No Fee Claim With Legal Helpline
- More Information
Can I Keep 100% Of My Compensation With A No Win No Fee Claim?
It’s likely you won’t keep 100% of your compensation following a successful No Win No Fee claim as you would need to pay your solicitor a success fee. While 100% compensation models do exist, they do have flaws. Under such a contract, the solicitor’s fees will be paid by the defendant’s insurer, as is your compensation.
Since the solicitor’s fee is paid by the insurer and not taken as a percentage of the compensation, they will not make as much money as they would under other payment models. This means a solicitor may not do everything they can to ensure a maximal payout.
Other funding models, where the claimant receives most, or a majority of their compensation, involve the solicitor taking their success fee from the compensation . We’ll explore these in a little more detail in a later section. If you would like to know more about the different ways you could seek personal injury compensation, speak to our advisors today.
What Is A No Win No Fee Claim?
A No Win No Fee claim is if the claim is not won, you will not be paying a fee to the solicitor for their services. Other costs could arise however and we’ve made a list of these in a later section.
There are different types of No Win No Fee claims, such as a Damages-Based agreement or a Conditional Fee Agreement, each with its own merits and pitfalls. While we’ve covered these below, our advisors can provide additional information.
Contact our team today with any questions you may have about working with a No Win No Fee solicitor.
What Changes Have Happened To No Win No Fee?
2013 saw significant changes to No Win No Fee contracts in the UK with 2 Statutory Instruments bringing in 2 different types of contract. These were The Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 and The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013.
Damages-based Agreements involve the solicitor charging 25% of the compensation as their success fee regardless of how much work they have done on the case. A Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) is similar in that the maximum percentage they can charge as a success fee is 25% however they may charge less than this depending on the extent of work they need to do on your case. Under a CFA, you solicitor will confirm with you how much they will charge as their success fee before beginning proceedings.
This means while you won’t keep 100% of your compensation, you will get to keep the majority of it for either agreement. We explore these changes in greater detail in the section below. To find out more, or to get a free eligibility check, contact our advisors using the details provided below.
What Are The Different Compensation Claim Funding Models?
“No Win No Fee” is an umbrella term, and there are different compensation claim funding models. Some contracts are not No Win No Fee agreements, so here we wanted to break these down and explain how each model works.
Examples of funding models include:
- Paying upfront: the client pays the solicitor’s fees upfront as well as any additional court fees to make the claim. If unsuccessful, the client would lose anything paid in fees during the claim as well as additional costs. If they won however, they’d recoup these losses. Generally, this is not desirable as the client takes on all of the risk.
- Damages-Based Agreement (DBA): A DBA is when the risk of litigation is shared between the client and solicitor. The solicitor fees and any other fees are dependent on the success criteria of the DBA, and are based on a percentage of the monies recovered from the losing party, up to 25%.
- Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA): A CFA, brought in by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 caps the maximum percentage a solicitor can charge as their success fee at 25%. The client is protected from paying solicitor fees at any point in the claim unless it is won. This is the contract offered by our panel of solicitors.
While Conditional Fee Agreements and Damages-Based Agreements seem similar, there are a few key differences. The CFA fees are based on the solicitor’s time, with the success fee, whereas a DBA is a straightforward percentage of your damages. Our panel only offers their services under CFAs as they are more suitable in lower value claims, claims with potential uncertain outcomes, or when non-monetary restitution is being sought.
You can speak to our advisors to learn about the different funding models for civil claims today.
No Win No Fee Hidden Costs – What Happens If Your Claim Is Not Successful?
If your claim is not successful, your CFA will protect you from paying any solicitor service fees. However, other expenses may arise during the claims process that are not covered under the Conditional Fee Agreement, including:
- The costs of obtaining medical reports or getting an independent medical examination.
- Any relevant court fees.
- Other costs and disbursements that are not included in the solicitor’s fee. This could include the cost of instructing experts or professional site photography, for example.
Now, solicitors can take out insurance policies to cover these costs. This is known as After The Event or “ATE” insurance. These policies are taken out after the accident but before the costs have started to pile up, hence “after the event,” to protect the claimant from any legal costs and disbursements that are not covered as part of “solicitor fees.”
To find out more about these costs and how they may affect your claim, speak to our advisors using the contact details given below.
Talk About Your No Win No Fee Claim With Legal Helpline
Legal Helpline’s advisors can answer any questions you might have about making a claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel. Whether you were injured at work, in a road traffic collision or in a public area, our team can explain more about the claims process and tell you if you could seek compensation within a few minutes.
Our panel of solicitors can take on eligible claims on a No Win No Fee basis, providing a range of services and support to claimants. We’ve already examined the contract they can offer you, so here we’re going to look at what they can do for you during the claims process.
Our panel can:
- Make sure you receive the necessary medical care, treatment, and rehabilitative services, with referrals to relevant specialists.
- Assist you with acquiring supporting evidence.
- Calculating a potential compensation figure for both your injuries and any financial losses.
- Ensuring you understand exactly what is happening with your claim by explaining all the technical jargon and being clear and upfront about costs.
- Negotiating a final settlement on your behalf.
A solicitor will also instruct a suitable barrister to present your claim in court if the matter progresses to trial. We should point out that most claims can be settled outside of court but if your claim does require a hearing, Legal Helpline’s panel of expert solicitors will be with you every step of the way.
Contact Our Advisors
Our advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, if it’s a good time for you, it’s a good time for us. Get in touch with a member of the team using our live chat, or the details given below.
- Call on 0333 000 0729
- Contact us online
- Use our live chat
More Information
Read more of our personal injury claims guides on our website:
- Find out if you could get full pay if injured at work here.
- Learn more about claiming compensation if you are unable to work following a personal injury.
- See our guidance on why it is important to report accidents at work.
We also have a few external resources here for further information:
- View this resource on managing risks and risk assessment at work from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
- Learn more about administering first aid using this NHS guidance.
- Find out more about the work of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) on their website.
Thank you for reading our guidance on whether you can keep 100% of your compensation. If you have further inquiries, concerns or would like to know if you could make a claim, get your free assessment today via the contact details provided above.
