UNITE LEGAL BRIEFING
JANET FINNEY
WWW.thompsons.law.co.uk
Unite members – legal services
• Work related employment advice and
representation
• Work related criminal advice and representation
• CICA
• MIB
• Free Wills
• Free half hour advice
• Personal Injury - CCFA
• Friends and family
Thompsons West Midlands Branch
• Incorporating Birmingham, Stoke and
Wolverhampton offices
• Linking services across the West Midlands
region
• Streamlining relationship and service provided
to union members
• Preparing for forthcoming legal changes
LEGAL CHANGES
• ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM BILL
(currently before the House of Lords)
• LEGAL AID, SENTENCING AND PUNISHMENT
OF OFFENDERS ACT - 2012
DAVID CAMERON OCTOBER 2010
“Good health and safety is vitally important. But all too
often good, straightforward legislation designed to
protect people from major hazards has been
extended inappropriately to cover every walk of life,
no matter how low the risk.
We simply cannot go on like this. That’s why I asked
Lord Young to do this review and put some common
sense back into health and safety”.
COMMON SENSE, COMMON SAFETY
LORD YOUNG’S CONSIDERATIONS
• The 1974 HSWA has provided protection for
workers for almost 40 years.
• Despite this the standing of health and safety
in the eyes of the public has never been lower.
• Part of the responsibility lies with the EU
where the Framework Directive of 1989 has
made risk assessments compulsory across all
occupations.
Lord Young’s recommendations
• ‘Simplify’ Risk Assessments for ‘low risk’
workplaces, offices, classrooms and shops
• RIDDOR reporting – only if absence is 7 days
or more
• Reduce incidence of HSE inspections and
investigations
• Cut red tape for small businesses
• Full support to Lord Jackson’s review into the
cost of litigation.
CAMERON NEEDS MORE
• In March 2011, the Government established an
Independent Review of Health and Safety legislation.
• This review was chaired by leading risk management
specialist Professor Ragnar Löfstedt.
• Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent
review of health and safety regulation was published
on 28 November 2011.
Loftstedt
“The general sweep of
requirements set out in health
and safety legislation are
broadly fit for purpose”
Loftstedt “Reclaiming Health
and Safety for All”
November 2011
Professor Ragnar Löfstedt.
• There is no case for radically altering current
health and safety legislation.
• The scope for changing health and safety
regulation is limited by the requirement to
implement EU law.
• The safety law of strict liability might be unfair
to employers who have done nothing wrong.
PROPOSALS FOLLOWING LOFTSTEDT
•
•
•
•
Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Bill
Clause 61– far beyond Loftstedt’s suggestions
Amendments to the HSWA 1974
Regulatory provisions that impose strict
liability should be reviewed and either
qualified with ‘reasonable practicability’ or
amended to prevent civil liability from
attaching to the provisions.
NOT WHAT LOFTSTEDT INTENDED
• “There is no case for radically altering current
health and safety legislation. I am concerned
my review could be misused”.
INJURED WORKERS/STRICT LIABILITY
• Strict Liability for breach of statutory duty means the
injured worker doesn’t have to prove who was at
fault.
• Simply rely upon HSWA 1974 and EU ‘6 pack’
regulations to show the employer should have:
• Guarded a piece of machinery
• Put safety measures in place when working at
heights
• Separated vehicles from pedestrian walkways
• Provided safe work equipment
IMPACT OF THE ENTERPRISE
PROPOSALS
• Workers injured through no fault of their own
will need to show that the employer knew or
ought to have known that the equipment
being used was unguarded or that a particular
working practice was unsafe in order to
receive compensation.
ENTERPRISE & REGULATORY REFORM
BILL
• The changes proposed by government will set
health and safety law back over 100 years.
• Encourage poor employers to pay lip service
to health and safety generally
• Shift the burden of proof – but to where?
• The tax payer/ the state ?
• Windfall for the insurance industry
Young & loftstedt
• The scope for changing health and safety
regulation is limited by the requirement to
implement EU law.
• Has the government thought this through
• Thompsons undertaking research
• If we are correct the cost to the tax payer will
be huge
Unite members – legal services
• Work related employment advice and
representation
• Work related criminal advice and representation
• CICA
• MIB
• Free Wills
• Free half hour advice
• Personal Injury - CCFA
• Friends and family
Current service and funding
• Personal injury cases fund employment and
other legal services
• ATE insurance – premium recoverable from
defendant insurers in successful case payable
to Unite
• Success fee – recoverable from defendant
insurers.
• Referral fees - Unite
Benefits of current funding
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cases insured so claimant not at risk of costs
Union cases run on a 51% chance of success
No limits placed on funding
Success fees fund :
Time investigating cases that are not run
Difficult cases, marginal/complex cases, group
actions and test cases
• Referral fees – income for the union to
support other services to members
Sir Rupert Jackson – Civil Litigation
Reforms
• Jackson report published January 2010
• LASPOA – Legal Aid, Sentencing and
Punishment of Offenders Act passed 2012
• Section 2 – Litigation Funding & costs –
effective April 2013
• Huge savings for the insurance industry
Jackson Reforms- April 2013
• ATE insurance – no longer recoverable from
defendant – injured claimant to pay
• Success fees – no longer recoverable from
defendant - injured claimant to pay by deduction
from damages for injury, capped at 25%
• Referral fee ban
• DBA’s – Damage Based Agreements – contingency
based. Capped at 25% injury award
Jackson Reforms – April 2013
• Fixed costs
• RTA - Damages 1 – 10K costs limited to £500
• PI Claims – Damages 1 – 10K costs limited to
£900
DIRECT REFERRALS
• By telephone to First Assist – 24 hours/7 days
0800 587 7524
• Member provides membership number, name
and address.
• First assist will access UNITE system and
directly transfer the call to the union lawyers.
• Union lawyers will take information and open
case in Unite system
DIRECT REFERRALS
• Telephone referrals in the region
• Member will call district or local office and
provide membership details.
• Unite office will then directly transfer the call
to the appropriate union law firm using the
free phone number.
• NB. It must be the member who speaks to the
law firm and not Unite.
DIRECT REFERRALS
• Application forms – must go in a pre-paid
envelope and be posted by the member to the
union law firm.
• Large workplaces – Dedicated mobile phones
for use by members
• Large workplaces – pre-paid envelopes
• Website referrals – changes will be made to
incorporate the free phone number.
Personal Injury Damages
• Personal Injury Damages recovered for Unite
members in the West Midlands Region for the
period October – December 2012
• £2,082,596
Working Together
• Organise and recruit more members
• Raise awareness – benefits of being a TU
member
• Numbers critical
• Ensure all accidents, near misses and
complaints are reported
• Being a Trade Union member may be the only
way injured people can bring a claim.