Claims Under £10,000.00
Small Claims Funding
If your Claim is worth more than £5000.00 but less than £10,000.00 (excluding interest). Then the only funding option we can offer you is our fixed costs service. No Win No Fee funding is not available for this level of claim.
This means that win or lose your legal costs will remain exactly the same and fixed at this price. We guarantee that all payments due to fund your claim are contained within this fee. This includes therefore, expert fees, barrister’s fees and court fees. It does not contain any provision for insurance, however, most insurers do not offer small claims cover. If you can find an insurer for your claim then we will be happy to work with them but our costs are still fixed.
These costs are:
£2500.00 inclusive.
Small Claims £1.00 - £5000.00
If your action fits into this category where the damages are less than £5000.00 then regrettably we cannot offer to act for you in any way. The costs would almost certainly outweigh the damages recovered and therefore such actions are uneconomical for a Solicitor to become involved in.
In broad terms for those individuals whose claims are worth over £5000.00 we are able to offer a fixed fee service of £2500.00. This is payable regardless of failure or success and regardless of how long the matter takes.
Other firms charge an “Uplift” do you?
Because you are paying a fixed fee of £2500.00 there are no other fees to pay, there is zero uplift.
Other firms charge for an insurance policy do you?
No, we don’t charge for an insurance policy. We don’t believe the costs of administering a policy should be chargeable to a client. We don’t take commissions or referrals on such policies either.
Does that costs include Court Fees
Yes, the £2500.00 includes the costs of issuing proceedings, and instructing an advocate for your trial. It also includes VAT.
Do I need insurance?
We will never advise you to ignore the risks of litigation. Having insurance does buy you peace of mind. Taking out insurance early often means the premiums are also lower so there is some advantage in looking at this straight away. However, it is true, some claims are so strong that some clients are prepared to accept higher premiums by taking out a policy later. This is something that needs to be addressed carefully and regularly by yourself and we are happy to advise throughout.
The small claims track is designed to prevent you from incurring the Defendants costs if you lose. As long as your claim was reasonable to bring then the legal costs of the defendant should not be levelled at you. You may however, be responsible for the Defendants expenses of attending a hearing. We will in all cases advise you further.
Are there any hidden costs at all?
The Rules allow the Defendant to charge you their costs if the claim you brought or your behaviour was unreasonable. It is very rare for this to happen but it is possible, especially if you bring your claim maliciously or don’t cooperate once the claim has begun. We feel that such behaviour will almost certainly result in your claim being rejected by us before trial in any event.