Paddy Tipping lodges question on claims handling

Paddy Tipping continues to pursue the cause of local miners with written question

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what organisation she intends to select to regulate claims handlers.

Bridget Prentice (who?) (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs) replies

The Compensation Bill provides a power to designate or set up a Regulator to ensure we have maximum flexibility to safeguard consumer interests. It also allows the Secretary of State to regulate directly if necessary.

My noble Friend Baroness Ashton of Upholland will be announcing further details on the Government's proposed approach at Report Stage in the House of Lords.

This has presumably been prompted by the issue of solicitors charging Nottinghamshire ex-miners to handle claiming from a government compensation scheme. The details are a little obscure, but in essence the solicitors appear to have offered a paid service to the miners without telling them that a similar service had already been funded by central government and would therefore have been free. They have not broken any law by doing this, but the common interpretation would be that they have grossly abused the trust of their clients. Perhaps worse still, union officials, who put the miners in touch with the solicitors, appear to have personally profited from participating in cheating the people whose interests they have a duty to protect.