Below is an example of our agreement, key facts and privacy policy that must be signed if you decide to engage in our services.
CONTINGENCY FEE AGREEMENT
This agreement is a legally binding contract between you and
Rapid Accident Management Legal Services Ltd.
Agreement Dated ………………
You, the client……………………………. We, the Agent: Rapid Accident Management Legal Services Ltd.
What is covered by this agreement:Your claim for compensation from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (the “Authority”) regarding personal injury and / or loss suffered on
What is not covered by this agreement:
Any action you wish us to take in appealing a decision.
Paying Us
If the Authority awards you compensation you pay us a sum equivalent to 30 percent of that compensation inc VAT at the standard rate, currently 20%, which applies when the work is done. Thus we charge you 25% plus VAT. You never pay us more than 30% if you win.
All claims are dealt with on a “No Win No Fee” basis and will be subject to a 30% success fee which is deducted from your final compensation. A typical example of this is, if you recover £1,000 in compensation, you will pay us £300 and receive £700.00 in compensation.
If you lose the case you do not pay us anything.
Cancellation Fees
If you end the agreement outside of the cooling off period and before the Authority makes a decision with regard to whether or not to award you compensation, you are liable to pay our basic costs of £118.00 per hour completed. Part hours will be charged at £11.80 for each six minutes of work. This figure will attract VAT at the standard rate, currently 20%, which will apply when the work is done.
The reason we have set the payment you make to us at this level is in view of the fact that we are taking on risk on whether or not your claim is successful and as we will wait until your claim is successful for payment of our charges rather than requiring payment either in advance or as we carry out work.
We reserve the right to charge our fees in full should you wish to withdraw once the decision process has started.
1. Our responsibilities:
We must always act in your best interests in pursuing your claim for compensation and obtain for you the best possible results subject to our duty to the rules and principles of professional conduct. We must explain to you the risks and benefits of taking or continuing to take or take any steps; we must give you our best advice about whether to accept any award.
2. Your responsibilities:
You must give us clear instructions to allow us to do our work properly; you must not ask us to work in an improper or unreasonable way; you must not deliberately mislead us; you must co-operate with us when asked;
3. What happens if you win:
If the Authority or Tribunal Court awards you compensation you pay us a sum equivalent to thirty Percent of that compensation. You agree that we may receive the compensation the Authority pays to you. out of the money you agree to let us take a sum equivalent to 30% including VAT of the damages in respect of our fees. You take the rest.
4. What happens if you lose:
If you lose, you do not have to pay us anything.
5. What happens if the agreement ends before the claim is decided:
You can end the agreement at any time. You are then liable to pay us our costs incurred up to the date you end the agreement calculated at the rate, set out above under “Paying Us”
We can end the agreement if you do not keep to your responsibilities in paragraph 2. You are then liable to pay us our costs incurred up to the date you end the agreement calculated at the rate, set out above under “Paying Us”.
We can end the agreement if we believe that you are unlikely to obtain any compensation from the Authority and you disagree with us. You do not have to pay us anything.
We can end the agreement if you reject our opinion about accepting compensation from the Authority. You are then liable to pay us our costs incurred up to the date you end the agreement calculated in full.
6. What happens after the agreement ends:
After the agreement ends we will inform the Authority that we are no longer acting as your representative.
7. Declarations:
This agreement should be read in conjunction with the “Key Facts” documentation enclosed.
I hereby agree to the deduction of 30% from my damages. I authorise Rapid Accident Management Legal Services Ltd to accept receipt of the payment of damages on my behalf and to deduct 30% from my award in settlement of their fees. The balance of my damages will then be sent to me in satisfaction of my claim.
I confirm that I have been contacted in response to my initial enquiry and have not been contacted without my permission.
This Agreement is a Non-Contentious Business Agreement Between you and Rapid Accident Management Legal Services ltd
Please sign this agreement only if you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions contained herein.
Cancellation
If after giving us your instructions you decide that you do not wish to proceed then please advise us within 14 days of giving us your instructions so that we may close your file of papers. Requests after this period may be subject to our reasonable fees for the work we have done.
(We have attached a standard letter for your use, should you wish to exercise this option)
………………………………….Signed for and on behalf of Ram Legal Services
I Consent to RAM Legal Services and CICA contacting any of the people or organizations listed below in obtaining and sharing information from them in order to process my claim or to verify any of the information I have provided. CICA may also tell the people and organizations listed below that I have made this application and tell them of the decision in my case where appropriate:
· Police authorities in any country I may have lived in as an adult
· ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO);
· Medical authorities and practitioners (including Police doctors and surgeons) With Information relevant to my case;
· Department for Work and Pensions;
· HM Revenue & Customs;
· Any other person or organization with information relevant to this application;
……………………………..
Signed by the client:
Key facts that you should be aware of:
The “Criminal Injury Compensation Service” is an enquiry services operated by Rapid Accident Management Legal Services Limited,
We are an independently owned and operated claims management company.
Rapid Accident Management Legal Services limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Rapid Accident Management Legal Services registration is recorded on the website https://register.fca.org.uk Authorisation number : 832285
We offer advice and assistance to victims of Criminal Injury Claims and are able to act on your behalf in pursuing your application for compensation against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
Our services will include preparing your claim for presentation, advising you on documentation needed and where possible completing or obtaining these for you, liaising with the Authority in respect of your claim and checking that any offer of an award is appropriate or adequate.
All Criminal Injuries Compensation Awards are fixed and set by a Tariff, any awards offered are valued using this tariff subject to an Applicant satisfying all of the criteria of the scheme and being able to demonstrate their injury within treatment records. We will use our skill experience and expertise to help you to achieve the appropriate settlement for your injuries.
All claims are dealt with on a “No Win No Fee” basis and will be subject to a 30% success fee which is deducted from your final compensation. A typical example of this is, if you recover £1,000 in compensation, you will pay us £300 and receive £700 in compensation.
As with all cases, there is a risk that your application could fail, in which case you will not receive compensation. However, you have entered into an agreement with us, which means that we have assessed this claim and so long as you comply with all terms and only present an honest case, then you will not have to pay our costs.
We only respond to incoming enquiries that you have made and we do not “cold call” or employ the use of marketing lists or text messaging services to contact you. We will only contact you if you have provided your details and requested that we do so. If you believe that you have been approached improperly or illegally (cold called) please advise us immediately so that we may investigate fully.
If after giving us your instructions you decide that you do not wish to proceed then please advise us within 14 days of giving us your instructions so that we may close your file of papers. Requests after this period may be subject to our reasonable fees for the work we have done. These fees are listed in our agreement for your information.
(Should you wish to cancel or dis-instruct us we have attached a standard letter for your use, you do not have to use this form and can contact us by telephone or e-mail if you prefer)
Prior to receiving any instructions from you we would like to remind you that you are free to seek legal representation wherever you choose you are also reminded that you may not require legal assistance for certain types of claim and may be able to deal with these yourself. Should you wish to retain the services that are offered to you then you do so in the full knowledge of this fact.
Complaints Procedure
In the unlikely event that you have a complaint regarding any aspect of our service, please feel free to contact us by telephone, post, e-mail or in person to express your dissatisfaction and draw our attention to the issues that you would like us to address. We will ensure that you receive an initial letter acknowledging your complaint setting out the details that you would like investigating and the details of the senior member of staff nominated to deal with any issues that you have raised. This letter will be sent to you within 5 working days of you raising your complaint.
Your complaint will be investigated fully and upon completion of the investigations a written response will be sent advising you of the outcome of our investigations and where appropriate any offer of redress. We aim that this response will be sent within eight weeks of your initial enquiry. Should we not be in a position to provide you with a final response at this time we will write and advise you of the reasons why we are unable to complete our investigation. We will also confirm date that we expect to be in a position to provide you with a full written response.
Should you be unhappy with the outcome of our investigations into your complaint you have the right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service who will decide upon the appropriate course of action that should be taken if any.
All complaints referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service must be sent within six months of receipt of our final written response to your complaint.
The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted at:
Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR.
Confidentiality
All of your personal and claim information will be processed and stored confidentially as per the Data Protection Act 1998. We do not share any of your information with third parties other than those responsible for processing your claim (the CICA). All documents containing your personal and claim information will be stored and disposed of securely using a confidential waste management solution operated by Ecoshred. For more information visit http://www.ecoshreduk.com
Cancellation Policy
Once you have signed and returned our initial paperwork you have a cooling off period of 14 days in which you can cancel our services without charge. If you cancel outside of the cooling off period you may incur fees that are also detailed below.
If you end the agreement before the Authority makes a decision with regard to whether or not to award you compensation, you are liable to pay our basic costs of £118.00 per hour completed. Part hours will be charged at 11.80 for each six minutes of work. This figure will attract VAT at the standard rate, currently 20%, which will apply when the work is done.
We reserve the right to charge our fees in full should you wish to withdraw once the decision process has started.
If you wish to cancel our services you can complete and return the cancellation form that is included in the key facts bundle of our initial paperwork. Alternatively you can complete the cancellation form below. Once your cancellation is received we will contact you to confirm receipt.