Justice minister: We will not stop in quest to end 'compensation culture'

Friday, 9 September 2011 11:41 AM

Jonathan Djanogly, justice minister, pledges to go further than banning referral fees in attempt to curb 'compensation culture':

"The 'no-win, no-fee' system is pushing us into a compensation culture in which middle men make a tidy profit which the rest of us end up paying for through higher insurance premiums and higher prices.

"Honest motorists are seeing their premiums hiked up as insurance companies cover the increasing costs of more and more compensation claims. Many of the claims are spurious and only happen because the current system allows too many people to profit from minor accidents and incidents.

"Referral fees are one symptom of the compensation culture problem and too much money sloshing through the system. People are being encouraged to sue, at no risk to themselves, leaving schools, business and individuals living in fear of being dragged to the courts for simply going about daily life.

"We will ban referral fees and we will go further. We have proposals before parliament to end the bizarre situation in which people have no stake in the legal costs their cases bring. This will make claimants think harder about whether to sue and give insurance companies and business generally an incentive to pass the savings onto customers through lower prices."

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