APIL welcomes SRA’s assurance on cold calling ban

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has welcomed an assurance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that the ban on solicitors’ cold calling for personal injury will not be lifted.

Concerns were raised earlier this month that the watchdog was considering removing the existing rule preventing solicitors from making unsolicited calls from the draft version of its new handbook.

However, the SRA has said that it has no intention of getting rid of the ban.

“This is very good news indeed,” said APIL president Neil Sugarman. “I am delighted that the SRA has listened to concerns, because it’s really important that we do as much as we can to get rid of the scourge of cold calling for personal injury.”

APIL has long called for a complete ban on cold calling for personal injury, which is currently in place for solicitors but not for claims management companies.

“Most solicitors would not dream of cold calling but we must legislate for those who would,” said Sugarman.

“We are currently in the middle of an epidemic of cold calling for personal injury claims which exploits vulnerable people. It is tasteless and intrusive. It generates the false perception that obtaining compensation for injuries is easy, even when there is no injury. It brings our whole sector into disrepute, and people hate and condemn the practise.”

Sugarman added that APIL have consistently called for CMCs to be banned from cold calling for personal injury, in order “to raise the bar to reflect what – quite rightly – is expected of solicitors”.

“We need to do more – not less – to get rid of the scourge of cold calling for personal injury,” he said.

Mark Dugdale