Implementation of Jackson reforms put back to April 2013
The government is to delay implementation of the Jackson civil cost reforms until April 2013.
Junior minister Lord Wallace told the House of Lords on Monday that implementation of Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill would be put back by six months. The new regime had been expected to come into force in October this year.
The changes in Part 2 relate to civil cost reforms, including those affecting conditional fee agreements, arising out of Lord Justice Jackson’s review.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We are committed to reforming the ‘no win no fee’ system so that legal costs for reasonable compensation claims will be more proportionate, and avoidable claims will be deterred from going to court.
“This will help us to move away from the current unacceptable situation where, for example, the NHS paid £200m to claimants’ lawyers for compensation cases in 2010-11 – around three times more than it paid its own lawyers.”
The MoJ spokesman added: “This will require changes to legal rules and regulations and we want to give sufficient time to get the complex details right. We are also conscious that legal businesses will need sufficient time to plan for the changes, alongside other forthcoming regulatory and funding changes to the industry.”
