How much is my personal injury claim likely to cost me?

While it can be more complicated than this, in a straightforward claim you will pay us no more than 25% of the damages you recover, and this includes the cost of an After the Event (or “ATE”) Insurance policy. It might be less than that, but it won’t be more.

Many other firms charge for ATE on top of the 25%, we don’t.

However not all cases are that straightforward!

Firstly it’s important you understand the difference between the actual costs of running your claim and the very often fixed amount that a Defendant has to pay.

• For example in a supposedly straightforward road traffic accident where damages are no more than £10,000, the Defendant’s contribution to costs can be as little as £500 + VAT.
• That’s it, £500 regardless of how much work is done.
• That figure hasn’t gone up since 2013.

It’s interesting to contrast this situation with the horrendous increases in motor insurance premiums since 2013.

Confused.com reports that the average UK motor premium in 2024 was between £834 and £941. Bear in mind also that insurers get to increase their premiums whenever they like, for whatever reason they like. But the injured innocent victim of another’s negligent driving has been stuck for the past 12 years with a £500 contribution towards their legal costs.

Of course the Claimant’s actual legal costs are higher.

Your legal costs are made up of:-

1.  Your solicitor’s charge for their work.
2. Disbursements like Court and medical expert fees.
3. Your solicitor’s success fee, for taking on all the risk of not winning and therefore not being paid.
4. An After The Event insurance premium, should you choose to take it – it covers disbursements like those mentioned above – Court and medical expert fees – as well as the other side’s costs if you are ordered to pay them.

If you (say) act unreasonably or dishonestly then we may charge more but, just to give you an idea of how the 25% maximum works.

• Imagine the following scenario – your damages are £10,000, the actual costs are £4,000 and we get £500 back from the other side.
• On the face of it the costs shortfall is £3,500 but you don’t pay that; you just pay 25% of your £10,000 damages, (which is £2,500) and we simply write off the rest.
• But if the damages are £10,0000, actual costs £2,000 and we recover £500 then the costs shortfall is only £1,500.
• So that £1,500 would be all you pay, we don’t still charge you the full £2,500.

So we say again, if the case is straightforward you might pay less than 25%, but you won’t pay more.

We don’t pressure sell at Furley Page, there’s no point, we are not, nor have we ever been “ambulance chasers.”

We will start with a no obligation conversation with you, if that leads on to us offering a no win no fee agreement then we will discuss it with you in detail including advice to enable you to decide whether or not to take out the After The Event Insurance Cover as well.

After that it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to proceed.

Just remember, the initial contact costs you nothing, you won’t have even signed anything at that point so how could we possibly charge you!

For more information about the costs of making an injury claim, contact Partner and Head of Personal Injury, Neille Ryan on 01227 763939.