Fixing legal fees

Responding to a Department of Health consultation on fixed legal fees, the DDU called on the Government to rethink the proposed low limit on the cases the fee-cap will apply to, in order to ensure a meaningful effect on often disproportionate and increasingly unaffordable legal costs.

John Makin, head of the DDU, said, “The rising tide of litigation is having a dramatic effect on the dental profession and the NHS more widely. In lower-value claims, the fees claimed by claimant lawyers are still, on average, above the level of damages awarded and that cannot be right. For example, in one settled claim, the claimant’s costs were more than quadruple the settlement figure received by the patient.

“The caps proposed are only for claims where compensation paid is between £1,000 and £25,000. While this limit may help with some dental claims, we strongly believe that fixed costs should be applied to all claims settled up to £250,000 to have any meaningful impact.