The government has announced steps to rid the UK of its perceived compensation culture.

The proposals are aimed atoverhauling the UK civil justice system and reforming ’no win no fee’ deals to prevent “expensive and unnecessary litigation”.

Proposals include:

• improving how court judgements are enforced, so that people receive what it is judged they are owed, as well as introducing automatic referral to mediation in small claims cases or mediation awareness sessions in higher-value cases, to help people avoid court where possible
• raising the small claims limit and changing the county court jurisdiction so that the High Court is used for bigger and more complex claims only.

The government also confirmed it will go ahead with the plans in last year’s consultation ’Proposals for reform of civil litigation funding and costs in England and Wales’.

Plans include:

·     Abolishing recoverability of success fees and associated costs in ’no win no fee’ conditional fee agreements.

·     Allowing damages-based agreements (also known as contingency fees) in litigation before the courts.

·     Introducing a 10% increase in general damages, and introducing a mechanism to protect the most personal injury claimants from paying a winning defendant’s costs (through qualified one way costs shifting).

·     Other measures include encouraging parties to make and accept reasonable offers, introducing a new test to ensure that overall costs are proportionate and increasing the costs that can be recovered by people who win their cases without representation by lawyers.

A new consultation has also been launched on radically reforming the civil justice system — ’Solving disputes in the county courts: creating a simpler, quicker and more proportionate system’.

This consultation proposes:

·     Expanding the use of a successful online system to slash waiting times and legal expenses, as recommended by Lord Young

·     Increasing the use of mediation

·     Raising the maximum value for small claims from £5,000 to £15,000

• More effective enforcement

Acas chair Ed Sweeney says: “Acas Pre-Claim Conciliation (PCC) is a highly effective way of resolving disputes before they reach an employment tribunal and offers substantial savings for employers, employees and the taxpayer. It is quicker, cheaper and less stressful, and if we can offer early conciliation in more cases we can multiply the benefits of this very successful service.”