CRU and NHS charges

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Recovery of social security benefits

A claimant will often receive state benefits as a result of their accident, injury or disease. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) operates a system for recovering these benefits from the compensator (either the defendant or, in most cases, the defendant’s insurers) via the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU). The purpose behind the scheme is to ensure that an injured claimant is not compensated twice. The compensator, as the party liable for the claimant's injuries, refunds the cost of any benefits paid out to the claimant to the CRU.

A compensator who makes a compensation payment in any case is liable to pay an amount equal to the total amount of the recoverable benefits received as a result of the injury. The compensator is in turn entitled to recoup certain benefits against three types of loss:

  1. •

    loss of earnings

  2. •

    cost of care

  3. •

    loss of mobility

The compensator cannot offset recoverable benefits against general damages eg pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA), future losses or medical expenses. In addition, the compensator can only offset recoverable benefits as against

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Latest PI & Clinical Negligence News

PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—19 March 2026

This week's edition of PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights includes a Senior Courts Costs Office decision which held that Medical Reporting Organisation fees are recoverable as disbursements (not outsourced solicitors' work) but limited reasonable mark-ups on experts’ fees to 25% in the absence of sufficient justification (JXX v Archibald). We also feature a High Court clinical negligence decision on causation in a failure to prescribe antibiotics claim. The PI and clinical negligence team have published a new flowchart outlining the procedural steps required to obtain court approval of a settlement in a child’s claim. In addition, we provide details on submitting cases to the Lexis Quantum Database along with our usual round-up of other news, cases, webinars and New Law Journal articles of interest.

The ‘successful party’ in multi-element Part 36 offers (Cooper and others v Ludgate House Ltd)

Dispute Resolution analysis: The substantive claim concerned the claimants’ right to light appurtenant to their flats over the defendant’s development site. Following the hearing, the court found in favor of the claimants’ and awarded damages accordingly (but reject the claimants’ claim for injunctive relief). In this case, the court gave guidance on which party was ‘successful’ for the purposes of CPR 44.2 following a multi-element Part 36 offer. The defendant’s had offered to settle not just in respect of the claimant’s right to light as a result of their development, but also for any statutory claims under section 204 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (HPA 2016), following the future planned development of an adjacent site. Lord Justice Fancourt held that he was not able to confidently estimate what the diminution in the claimant’s flat would be in those circumstances and therefore he could not conclude that the defendant had beaten their Part 36 offer. This case should therefore serve as a warning to parties making Part 36 offers with multiple elements, particularly where those elements are difficult to quantify and do not, as in this case, form part of the claim. Written by Charlotte Payne, barrister at 7KBW.

APIL opposes campaign to repeal section 2(4) of Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has published a blog post, setting out its opposition to a campaign seeking the repeal of section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948 (LR(PI)A 1948), which permits clinical negligence victims to recover compensation for private healthcare costs. APIL refers to opinion polling indicating that 51% of UK adults support NHS funding for private treatment where harm has been caused by NHS negligence, while 35% oppose such coverage. It also highlights government analysis showing that therapy and treatment costs, including private healthcare services recoverable under LR(PI)A 1948, s 2(4), account for only 4% of total clinical negligence damages. APIL argues that this demonstrates the provision does not have a significant impact on overall clinical negligence spending and that its repeal would not materially reduce costs, while restricting access to necessary private treatment for victims. It further contends that repeal would require all negligence victims to rely on NHS care, including those injured in road traffic accidents and workplace incidents, whose treatment would otherwise be privately funded through insurance.

No judgment needed—Part 36 still bites on costs assessment (R(PM) v The Director of Public Prosecutions)

Dispute Resolution analysis: Does the absence of a judicial determination prevent Part 36 consequences, specifically those under CPR 36.17(4) from arising? The Senior Courts Costs Office considered that in circumstances where there is a live Part 36 offer this still amounts to the resolution of the claim and that accordingly Part 36 consequences apply where a detailed assessment is concluded by agreement rather than assessment, particularly where the settlement figure ultimately results in an earlier Part 36 offer being beaten. Written by Adam Fox, costs lawyer and director at NWL Costs Lawyers.

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