Coroners and Justice Bill

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I have every intention of withdrawing the amendment at the end of the debate, which I hope may be short or even non-existent. I shall try to explain in a few words why I intend to take this course. These amendments would establish a statutory framework for regulating damages-based agreements. They are not currently permitted in court proceedings and these amendments do not seek to change this. These agreements are, however, commonly used by solicitors and claims managers in some tribunal proceedings, primarily proceedings before the employment tribunal. I am particularly grateful to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, for taking the time yesterday to discuss with my officials his and other noble Lords’ concerns. As a consequence, I shall seek the leave of the House to withdraw the amendment in due course. The primary intention of the amendments is to ensure consumer protection of claimants. We know from recent research that a significant number of claimants in employment cases who sign up to a damages-based agreement are not given proper information by their representatives. This lack of information covers alternative funding which may be available, such as through a trade union or a legal expenses insurance policy. Claimants are also not fully informed about the costs, such as experts’ and counsels’ fees, which they may nevertheless have to pay—notwithstanding that they have signed a no-win no-fee agreement. It is right to legislate to introduce regulation to protect consumers. I understand that some noble Lords were concerned at the extent of the amendments as drafted. We are listening to those concerns, and propose to withdraw or not move these amendments at this stage, with a view to bringing back at Third Reading redrafted amendments, which will be narrower in scope and limited to the regulation of damages-based agreements in respect of employment claims which may go to the employment tribunal. I hope in this way that we can meet the concerns that have been raised by noble Lords, while ensuring from the outset the consumer protection of vulnerable claimants in employment cases. I beg to move.