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It is a time of change for the After The Event (ATE) insurance market, not least because the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has now entered third reading stage in the House of Lords.

For the ATE insurance market this takes us a step closer to ATE premiums becoming irrecoverable and qualified one way costs shifting taking away the need to insure against adverse costs in personal injury matters (although it is still unclear in what situation a claimant may be liable for adverse costs and how this alters the current costs consequences of Part 36 offers).

There is however expected to be further debate over a number of sections, including those relating to ATE insurance, before the bill returns to the House of Commons for consideration of the amendments.

This news comes as a number of public figures write an open letter to David Cameron highlighting the need to exclude libel and privacy cases from the bill. A primary reason for this is the concern that only the rich will have the means to bring this type of case in future without easy access to conditional fee agreements and After The Event insurance.

In light of the proposed changes to public funding many clinical negligence solicitors have also raised serious concern over how their impecunious clients will afford to pay disbursements such as obtaining expert medical evidence going forward. This type of cost is unavoidable to enable a client to successfully bring a claim.

As a result of this we are seeing an increased uptake in ATE insurance products brokered exclusively by TheJudge that include ongoing disbursement funding as an option. Contact TheJudge to find out more.