Last week the Ministry of Justice responded to the Justice Committee’s report on small claims published in May. Paragraph 36 of the MoJ’s response confirms that the Government will postpone implementation of the whiplash and small claims reform programme until at least April 2020. Justice Committee Chair Bob Neill MP then wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice to seek further clarification on certain aspects of the reforms. Continue reading
Tag Archives: small claims
Government changes tack (in part) on whiplash reform and recommits to April 2019 implementation
We have noted previously that the Government’s idea of omitting the definition of whiplash from new legislation (Civil Liability Bill) and putting it in secondary regulations instead was heavily criticised by Parliamentary Committees, Peers and others. It is therefore probably not surprising that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has now changed its mind on the point. Continue reading
Whiplash and discount rate reforms – Minister summarises proposals at APIL conference
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ (APIL) annual conference ends today, 18 April 2018, with what looks to be a timely “Law Reform and litigation update” session covering the discount rate, clinical negligence, small claims, court reforms and gastric illness. The keynote address yesterday was delivered by MoJ Minister Lord Keen, who touched on most of these topics in his speech. It is understood he did not take questions after the speech and left very promptly.
The MoJ has just released Lord Keen’s speech on civil justice reform and while it is worth reading, it really does not say anything new about the Government’s reform agenda and its preferred timetable for change.