This House of Lords Library Briefing provides information ahead of the second reading of the Civil Liability Bill [HL] in the House of Lords on 24 April 2018.
Civil Liability Bill [HL] (368 KB , PDF)
The Civil Liability Bill [HL] is a government bill, which has two main purposes. The first is to introduce measures designed to disincentivise the number of minor, exaggerated and fraudulent claims for compensation resulting from whiplash injuries sustained in road traffic accidents. The second is make provision with regard to the personal injury discount rate, according to which claims for the loss of past and future earnings resulting from personal injuries are determined.
Amongst the measures included in the Bill are proposals to give the Lord Chancellor the power to specify a tariff according to which damages for whiplash injuries would be determined (when the duration of those injuries is not longer than two years); to allow a departure from this tariff in exceptional circumstances; to ban the settlement of claims without appropriate medical evidence; and for the Lord Chancellor to set the personal injury discount rate following advice from an expert panel, and according to a calculation based on a ‘low-risk’ investment profile intended to provide not less or more than 100 percent compensation for the injury sustained.
The Bill is part of a package of primary and secondary legislative measures on personal injury claims. The most significant of the latter are the Government’s plans to raise the limit for claims on the small claims track in civil courts from £1,000 to £5,000 for road traffic accident-related personal injury claims, and from £1,000 to £2,000 for other personal injury claims. Both primary and secondary legislative measures are intended to come into force at the same time in April 2019.
Reaction to the proposals has been mixed. Organisations such as the Association of British Insurers and the Forum of Insurance Lawyers have been supportive of the plans, suggesting they are long overdue. In contrast, the Law Society, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and campaigning groups such as Access to Justice, have raised concerns such as the access of claimants to legal advice, and queried whether any savings generated by the proposals will be passed onto customers by the insurance industry.
Civil Liability Bill [HL] (368 KB , PDF)
At present, prenuptial agreements are not automatically enforceable by courts in England and Wales. However, a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010 stated that courts should consider such agreements if entered into freely and with full understanding, unless doing so would be unfair. This has prompted calls for reforming marriage laws, including a Law Commission proposal to introduce a new form of marital property agreement.
The Holocaust Memorial Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 4 September 2024. This bill seeks to make provision for expenditure on the construction and operation of a Holocaust memorial and learning centre. It would also remove restrictions on building these in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to Parliament. It is a government bill, introduced under the previous Conservative government and continued by the newly elected Labour government. The bill is a hybrid bill, meaning it applies generally but also has a particular effect on specific groups, people or places. This entails additional stages for the bill. The bill is made up of two substantive clauses. It would extend to England and Wales, and apply to England. It would come into force two months after receiving royal assent.
Arbitration is a form of dispute resolution that enables two or more parties to resolve a disagreement privately through a third party instead of going to court. The Arbitration Bill [HL] would amend the Arbitration Act 1996, the principal legislation governing arbitrations in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. The changes provided for in the bill would implement recommendations from the Law Commission following consultation with the sector.
![Arbitration Bill [HL]: HL Bill 1 of 2024–25](https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/International-trade-568x426.png)