Compensation Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 35:"Page 2, line 24, after ““another,”” insert—" ““(   )   any service offered for money or money’s worth to persons bringing claims,”” The noble Lord said: This amendment seeks to extend the definition of ““services”” to catch all services provided to claimants unless they are otherwise excluded. Again, the intention is to cover any gaps in regulatory cover. If Amendment No. 35 were accepted, Clause 2(3)(a)(iii) would read,"““referring or introducing one person to another any service offered for money or money’s worth to persons bringing claims, and””." Adding the words in the amendment catches those who are carrying out what are effectively claims management services, but who carefully do not present themselves as so doing. It still excludes those who are providing free advice. We have already seen inventiveness in this area of definition—for example, on the part of Claims Direct and the Accident Group. Certain types of service have been dressed up as wholly different services, sometimes spuriously rebranded as insurance services in circumstances that enable the claims management companies to attempt recovery of premium. The area that I would like to highlight under the amendment is the growing market in credit rehabilitation. Here, the claimant will be recommended for rehabilitation. A solicitor will arrange the rehabilitation on a credit basis on the claimant’s behalf and the claimant enters into a contract with the rehabilitation provider. The provision of the rehabilitation is a service to the claimant: it is not a financial service; it is not a legal service; it is not a referral; and it is not an inquiry. I am therefore unsure about the extent to which it is covered under the Bill, because the claimant is not paying for the service directly. The amendment is therefore required to ensure that that is caught. It is not too far-fetched to imagine, in a sector as inventive as this, that claims management companies seeking to avoid regulation may move into the rehabilitation sector and then provide all the other services as ancillary to the rehabilitation provided. I dare say that the Minister will tell me that this is an inclusive provision, not an exhaustive one, but I seek to deliver a message to those whose time is up. I do that because I have become aware—