Class actions are still a popular concept with Britons despite a lack of recent high profile successes, new studies show. According to the research, from legal communications firm Portland, 64% of respondents indicated that they would sign up to a 'class action given the chance'. Nearly as many - 63% - said they would join a class action against their employer if they broke the law and they were affected.

'This comes despite a three-year stagnation in the general public’s knowledge and awareness of class actions,' the fourth annual Class Action Report observed.  

According to the research, the UK public are more activist than ever before when faced with companies acting illegally, including supporting environmental lawsuits against polluters, activist shareholder litigation, consumer class actions, and broader actions taken against businesses accused of breaking the law.  

Environmental legal actions are particularly popular with the public and pose a specific and growing threat to the private sector, the research found. Some 70% of respondents agreed that someone should be held accountable when a company fails to properly manage climate risks, with over half believing this should be company directors personally. Meanwhile, 62% said they would be willing to join a class action if impacted by environmental damage from a business’ operations. 

Public sentiment towards tech giants also appears to be hardening: 76% of respondents agreed that regulating tech companies is important for a fair digital market, but slightly fewer, 69%, said that class actions are a good way to hold these companies to account. 

Support for competition-focused class actions is lower, but jumped ove the past year: 57% of respondents said they would join a class action after being affected by unfair pricing, up from 52% last year.  

Despite the uncertainty cast over the litigation funding industry after the Supreme Court’s decision in PACCAR, the report finds that public knowledge of litigation funders is increasing, with those claim a ‘high’ level of awareness of litigation funders increasing by six percentage points while those expressing a ‘low’ level of understanding dropped from 57% in 2022 to 49% in 2023.  

The researchers polled a nationally representative sample of 4,000 people (2,000 in the UK, 2,000 in the US). 

Simon Pugh, partner in Portland’s litigation and disputes practice, said: 'This year’s report shows that consumers are becoming more activist. The UK public’s increase in willingness to take adverse actions against companies believed have broken the law should lead businesses to consider how they communicate both externally and internally in order to manage this increased risk.'

 

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