Jackson reforms to be in force next October

Government proposals to streamline legal aid and reform the costs of civil litigation in England and Wales are likely to be law by the end of the year.

Speaking at Butterworths Costs and Litigation Funding conference today (20 October), Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly predicted that the controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which has finished its committee stages, should have passed through both Houses before the Christmas recess. Although the minister accepted that he could not predict how the Bill would fare in the Lords, and that this may result in a delay, he insisted the Bill would receive Royal Assent before the end of the parliamentary session and that the Jackson proposals would be implemented “in full” next October.

The Law Society wants a pause in the passage of the legislation to ensure that it does not “wreak havoc on access to justice”. However, Mr Djanogly denied that the government was acting in haste and insisted it had undertaken constructive and extensive engagement with stakeholders. He reaffirmed the government’s intention to overhaul the delivery of civil justice to counter the effects of “our slow, expensive and adversarial” system. “Too often the courts are seen as the first, not the last, resort.” he said.

Mr Djanogly also confirmed that the government was considering the most appropriate way of implementing its proposals to ban referral fees in personal injury cases, which were announced last month.

Breaching the ban is likely to be a regulatory, not a criminal, offence and enforcement will be designed to keep “leakage” to a minimum. Despite the daunting task of policing the ban (and defining what comes under the “referral fee umbrella”) the minister said he wanted to see the enforcement net widened to include non solicitors and to scoop up those receiving payments as well as those paying them.

Mr Djanogly retains ministerial responsibility for civil justice policy despite being relieved of his responsibilities for regulating claims management firms, following revelations that his children owned shares in such a firm.