Compensation Bill Minister Bridget Prentice has signalled that the DCA will establish a regulatory consulting group incorporating all major stakeholders in the personal injury claims process — insurers, claims management companies and consumers.
Prentice told Insurance Times' Future of Personal Injury Conference that the Compensation Bill was designed to improve risk management, encourage the giving of apologies and reduce adversarial disputes.
She also said that Clause 2 of the Bill will regulate claims management companies (CMCs) in terms of:
• frivolous claims encouragement
• misleading consumers about funding options
• poor quality advice.
Prentice added “the primary beneficiary should be the consumer”.
She also told delegates that the Legal Services Bill should “shift the focus from the interests of professions to the interests of consumers”.
The draft Legal Services Bill will build on the White Paper published last autumn. Two new bodies will be set up, independent of government and industry — a Legal Services Board (LSB) and an Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). A final report will be issued before the summer recess and the full Bill will be tabled “as soon as parliamentary time allows”.
Prentice issued the stark warning: “The regulation of legal services will be taken out of the hands of providers”. She added: “the consumer needs a single avenue of redress”.
Prentice assured the conference that the Legal Services Bill will fill the gaps in the current regulation. But she emphasised: “We don't want regulation for regulation's sake”.
