Bassetlaw MP: “get-rich-quick” scheme for solicitors

Bassetlaw MP John Mann has today welcomed the findings of Lord Lofthouse’s report on the miners compensation scheme. Lord Lofthouse, a Labour peer, will present his report to the Prime Minister later today. The report concludes that many solicitors have made vast profits from industrial compensation settlements for crippling diseases including Vibration White Finger and respiratory conditions including COPD and Chronic Bronchitis.

Solicitors have made these profits by taking deductions and charging fees for processing claims, despite the fact that their full legal costs were being met by the Government under the Coal Health Compensation Claims Handling Agreements. Solicitors would typically receive around £2,500 in legal fees from the Government per claim.

John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, has run a long and relentless campaign against these solicitors to get money back for miners and miners widows in his constituency. In his Bassetlaw constituency, in the heart of the North Nottinghamshire coalfield, the MP has investigated thousands of cases and has referred hundreds to the Law Society for investigation. The MP has also won rulings on cases with the Legal Services Ombudsman.

In Bassetlaw alone John Mann has won back almost £800,000 for miners in money that was wrongly taken from compensation settlements, and the MP expects to hit the £1,000,000 mark in his constituency this summer.

Reacting to Lord Lofthouse’s report John Mann MP said:

“I have won back almost £800,000 from solicitors in money that was taken wrongly from miners and miner’s widows. This is the biggest scandal in British legal history and today’s report from Lord Lofthouse is yet another damning verdict on the solicitors who have profited from the scheme. Many solicitors have seen the miners compensation scheme as a phenomenal get-rich-quick scheme; we now see lawyers flying around in private jets because of the money they have made from sick and dying miners.”

“For parts of the legal profession miners compensation has been the cash cow of all cash cows. I am demanding that the Government now writes to every single miner who has had a claim informing them that they can get money back that they have been charged or had deducted from their compensation.”

“This is fight for justice that must not end until every last miner has got every last penny of the money they are entitled to. The Solicitors Regulatory Authority should now reprimand all those solicitors involved in the strongest possible way: they should be struck off and never allowed to practice in the legal profession again. As I have done in my constituency with many solicitors, those involved in this scandal should be named and shamed and forced to meet the miners and widows face to face to explain their outrageous actions.”