The proposals have not been welcomed by clinical negligence lawyers

The government has launched a consultation on proposals to introduce fixed recoverable costs (FRC) and a new “streamlined” process for clinical negligence claims with a value of up to £25,000 in England and Wales.

Th government said the rationale for the proposals is that the cost of clinical negligence claims has risen substantially in recent years – from £582m in 2006/7 to £2.2bn in 2020/2021 – and it claims legal costs account for a significant part of the increase. It said over the same period, legal costs rose fourfold and accounted for 27 per cent of the total cost of clinical negligence in 2020/21.

According to the consultation, claimant costs are much higher and have risen mor...

Suzanne Townley
News Editor
Solicitors Journal

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