Listed below are a number of categories containing frequently asked questions, simply click on the appropriate category and select the question. If there is no answer listed for your specific question, then please click the button below to get in touch with our team.

Our FAQs

Personal Injury

Yes. A personal injury claim must be settled or issued at the County Court within a three year period from the date of your accident.

If you were under the age of 18 when you had your accident then you have three years from your 18th birthday in which to issue Court proceedings.

It is difficult to give an exact time frame for a personal injury claim. A straightforward personal injury claim where liability is not in dispute can be settled in six to twelve months.  However other factors can affect the length of a personal injury claim, for example if the third party dispute that they were at fault for the accident or if you have suffered serious injuries and the medical evidence is complex in which case your claim may have to be issued at court and could take in excess of three years.

Even if at first your injuries seem minor they may still cause ongoing problems in the future and so it is not advisable to settle your claim without first obtaining medical evidence and legal advice on your injuries.

You can still claim even if you were partly responsible. However your compensation may be reduced by a percentage accordingly.

Yes. If liability is admitted then the opponents may agree to pay these while the case is ongoing. Otherwise reasonable and necessary treatment costs can be claimed at the conclusion of the claim as part of your final settlement.

Costs & Charges

In simple terms, under the terms of your retainer, if you win your claim ALPS will not charge you anything for our services. If you lose your claim or costs cannot be recovered, then your funding arrangement with Auto Legal Protection Services Ltd will provide indemnity for costs of up to £100,000, unless there is a serious breach of the terms of the policy by you (e.g. dishonesty or fraud) or you do not co-operate and follow our advice and the cover is subsequently withdrawn. If the insurance indemnity cover which you have is withdrawn, we shall inform you immediately and provide our advice on how best to proceed.

If you are not an ALPS LEI policyholder, we may still be able to assist. Your case will be dealt with on a conditional fee basis which means we won’t charge you if you lose your case. It is also unlikely that you would have to pay the other sides costs but in order to protect you against this risk we will organise insurance for you. If you do not have an ALPS LEI policy, the difference between our bill of costs and the sum recovered from our opponents in respect of your legal costs will be deducted from your damages, however this is limited to a maximum of 25% of the sum you stand to receive.

If your accident happened prior to 31st May 2021, we will receive fixed costs from the other side’s insurers at specific stages, dependent upon the value of your claim and the stage within the process at which it settles. If we are able to settle your claim within the MOJ Portal, the fixed costs will not exceed £1,560.00 including VAT, plus disbursements .If your claim exits the MOJ portal because the Third Party insurer has failed to correspond with us in accordance with set time limits or liability is disputed, increased fixed costs will apply. We will advise you of the details of those fixed rates if/when they arise. If your claim becomes even more complex and valued in excess of £25,000 the fixed rates will not apply and we will notify you of our revised cost estimate, which will be based on an hourly rate.

If your accident occurred on or after 31st May 2021, ALPS will only receive costs as described above if your claim for injury is valued at more than £5,000.00. If you receive less than £5,000.00 for your injury, ALPS will receive nothing from your opponent for legal costs.

We would ask you to refer to your client care letter for a full explanation of costs & funding.

“Disbursements” are the cost of payments made to other people involved in the case, such as experts and barristers, as well as any Court fees paid. In a personal injury claim, disbursements likely to be incurred are:

  • GP medical report fees £216.00 + VAT
  • Engineer’s Fee £60.00 + VAT
  • Copies of GP or hospital notes £30.00 + VAT
  • Accountant’s Fee £100.00 + VAT
  • Court fees variable on the value of your case

General

We aim to offer a high standard of client care and an efficient service but if there is any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy and which you cannot resolve with the person who is handling your case or their team leader, please raise the matter in writing with Michelle O’Reilly at the address on the correspondence or via e-mail to michelle.oreilly@alpslegal.co.uk. We promise that your complaint will be investigated and that you will receive a fair and prompt response.
A copy of our Complaints Procedure is available upon request.
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) to consider the complaint. His role is to attempt to resolve disputes. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the LeO within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. The LeO can be contacted at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ; telephone: 0300 555 0333; website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
You are entitled to make a complaint about our firm’s bill too, in accordance with our complaints procedure. There may also be a right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the LeO, and/or by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. However you should note that the LeO may not consider a complaint about the bill if you have applied to the court for assessment.

Our usual office hours are Monday – Friday between 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m, excluding bank holidays. If you call after these hours, your call will be diverted to a new claims reporting and emergency helpline which is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

It is difficult to state precisely how long your claim will take to settle. However we can give a general indication that if your claim is straightforward and undisputed it will take between 6 – 12 months to settle. If the claim is complex and liability is disputed there is a higher possibility of proceedings having to be issued and taking all of these factors into account usually it will take between 18 months to 3 years to conclude the claim.

Service Levels

We will keep you updated of any material developments as soon as reasonably possible. We aim to contact you at least once per month with an update as to the current position with your claim. However, if you wish to discuss your claim further, then please do not hesitate to contact your dedicated claims handler by telephone or e-mail, and they will be happy to assist you. We will aim to respond to your queries within the following timescales: (i) Telephone Messages within 24 hours (ii) E-mails / Letters Within 2-3 days of receipt