COMPENSATION: High Court judge reduces fees payable under fast-track miners scheme


Solicitors must repay the government an estimated £100 million after a High Court judge ruled firms were overpaid for processing compensation claims for miners suffering chronic chest disease.



Mrs Justice Swift ruled solicitors had been paid too much for handling claims under a fast-track compensation scheme introduced by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2005 to speed up settlements.



Previously, claims took years to complete and thousands of miners died before receiving damages. Under the streamlined process, claimants do not undergo comprehensive and time-consuming medical and eligibility tests.



The fast-track scheme requires less work from solicitors. Lawyers were being paid £1,769 plus VAT for claims relating to deceased miners and £1,561 for live claims, but those costs have now been cut to £1,192 and £1,103 respectively.



Big firms which settled thousands of claims via the fast-track scheme will be hit hardest, with some facing losses of several million pounds.



DTI minister Malcolm Wicks said: 'The outcome vindicates the department's determination in actively pursing this action.'



Irwin Mitchell was one of six firms representing the interests of solicitors at the hearing. Partner Roger Maddocks said: 'We welcome the judgment of the court as it brings to an end the uncertainty as to the level of remuneration that claimant solicitors should receive when dealing with cases under the fast-track scheme.



'Although the figures determined by court are lower than those fixed by the previous judge, with the consequence that some monies may be repayable by firms, they are much more realistic than the figures originally proposed by the DTI.'



A DTI spokesman said money recovered from solicitors will go back into the scheme itself.



Anita Rice