Can we take on your claim?

We cannot guarantee to take on your claim. Compensation claims in this area of the law are very difficult and expensive, and they take a great deal of time to prepare properly. We are compensation lawyers and so we focus on getting a monetary result for you. Sometimes a Defendant organisation, such as a local authority will make a formal apology in addition to making a payment of damages and we can discuss this when you come to see us.

If you are looking for other forms of redress, we may not be able to help you. Whatever the situation, we will always do our best to refer you to someone who may be able to help.

Our first question is going to be whether there is a viable claim for compensation. Many victims of child abuse bring their claims long after the abuse has happened. The law provides for periods of “limitation” or time limits by which claims must be issued in the courts. These limitation rules are complex and we can’t advise you properly until we are able to see you and take a full account of what has happened. Whatever your situation; our advice is always – see a solicitor as soon as possible. The slightest delay can sometimes be fatal to a compensation claim.

Our second question is going to be about funding. Some people with limited income and capital are entitled to “public funding.” We have a licence to undertake publicly funded work in these types of claims and we can make an application to the Legal Services Commission on your behalf. If that application is successful, you will be awarded a certificate of public funding, that enables us to carry out limited work for you.

However the Legal Services Commission have very strict criteria and they will want to see good evidence that there is a viable case. They will also want to be assured that the case is not going to cost too much.

If you are not entitled to public funding, we can consider whether to offer you a conditional fee agreement. Very briefly, this is an agreement where you don’t have to pay us if you don’t win your case. However we won’t be able to pay for your disbursements, for instance the cost of a psychiatric report or the costs of court fees. Also if you lose your case, you may be liable to pay the other side’s costs and these can be considerable.

It is possible to insure against the risk of losing a litigation case.  We are members of Accident Line, the Law Society approved legal expenses insurance scheme.  If your case is eligible for the scheme, we can only offer this type of legal expenses insurance to you.  The scheme can cover child abuse compensation claims.  If the case is not eligible, then we can try to arrange an alternative legal expenses package for you.  In all cases, we check whether a potential client already has legal expenses insurance, for instance a household insurance policy.

As you might expect, we do have to invest a great deal of time and effort in bringing these cases to a successful conclusion. Even if a case is publicly funded, we are paid more if you win the case than we are if you lose. This means that we have to think very carefully about whether we can take on a case or not.

We are here to find ways round these problems. We have acted and we continue to act for clients with public funding and clients with conditional fee agreements. If for some reason, we can’t enter into a conditional fee agreement with a client, we can try and refer them to another solicitor.

Our third question is going to be about how we obtain compensation for you. Victims of child abuse often have a number of different options for making a compensation claim. The following is a list of some of those options:-

• you may be able to make a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority if you are a victim of a “crime of violence”
• you may be able to make a civil claim against your abuser direct
• you may be able to make a civil claim against someone who was responsible for you at the time of the abuse and who failed to protect you from that abuse
• you may be able to bring a complaint to a local authority

We have experience of all of the above types of claims, and we should be able to advise on what is the most appropriate course of action. Different claims are funded in different ways. For instance the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority does not normally award anything for your solicitor’s costs, whereas in a civil claim against a local authority or an individual, you may well be entitled to receive not only your damages but also your costs. At the same time, there is a limited form of public funding available for claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. In certain cases, we can offer this type of funding to you.

One final point – if you decide you want to consult us, do it as soon as possible.

Find out how we’ve helped our clients in the past.