The Solicitors Regulation Authority have issued a warning notice on potential fraud in personal injury cases and reminding the profession of its obligations.

The warning notice, whihc will be found on the SRA web site at (www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct/guidance/warning-notices/Risk-factors-in-personal-injury-claims–warning-notice.page) has been issued following publication of a report by the Insurance Fraud Task Force in January, calling for more to be done to ensure solicitors were not involved in bogus insurance claims.

The SRA has drawn up a list of areas where there may be concerns for solicitors dealing with personal injury work and is asking firms to make sure they are fully compliant. Those areas include:

• Cold calling,
• Breaching the ban on referral fees,
• Acting on instructions without client approval,
• Paying damages to third parties, and
• Bringing claims without clients’ knowledge,

and has also produced a series of case studies highlighting how these issues can arise in practice.

The SRA will be carrying out a comprehensive review of the personal injury market later this year.