The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has launched a new Corporate Supporter Scheme, with 14 personal injury (PI) firms signing up as founding members. The scheme is designed to enable law firms to collaborate strategically with APIL and work collectively to address key challenges in the sector. The initiative works on a basis of turnover-related fee structures and benefit packages. The Chief Executive of APIL, Mike Benner, noted that the scheme’s income will be used to expand APIL’s judicial review funding capability, support its research function and develop its Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign. Benner also indicated that the scheme’s membership is expected to expand beyond the initial 14 firms.

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.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has published written evidence submitted to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlighting that increases in National Health Service (NHS)’s clinical negligence costs reflect rising compensation for seriously injured patients rather than fault by claimants or their lawyers. The evidence emphasises that compensation payments reflect the need to fairly support patients who have suffered avoidable harm while under NHS care. APIL notes that claimants’ legal costs are higher than the NHS’s because the burden of proof lies with them, and that significant delays over the past decade have further driven up expenses. It reports that claims exceeding £1m—mainly obstetric cases involving babies with lifelong care needs—account for 70% of the rise in spending despite making up fewer than 5% of successful claims. APIL also cites rising social care costs as a key factor and rejects repealing section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has published polling showing that only 5% of the public consider current whiplash compensation fair, as it prepares evidence for the Ministry of Justice's post-implementation review of 2021 reforms. The Opinium research found that 90% of whiplash sufferers struggle with daily activities, while typical compensation remains at £750 for injuries lasting up to two years. APIL argues that the Civil Liability Act 2018 reforms have damaged access to justice without reducing motor premiums, as motor insurers lobby to extend the tariff system to other injury types.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has submitted evidence to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee’s inquiry on access to justice, arguing that there is ‘irrefutable prejudice’ against personal injury claimants. In its submission, APIL highlights several contributing factors, including the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which prevents successful claimants from recovering their full legal costs; fixed recoverable costs that have failed to keep pace with inflation; and the Civil Liability Act’s whiplash reforms, which impose disproportionately low compensation tariffs. The evidence also cites Government Actuary calculations indicating that, under the current personal injury discount rate rules, claimants with a 20-year life expectancy have only a 55% chance of receiving full compensation.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has warned that the extended fixed recoverable costs (FRC) regime is creating uncertainty for injured people and claimant law firms. In a statement issued on 20 January 2026, APIL executive committee member John McQuater said obvious problems are emerging from the 2023 extension of the regime, including a lack of clarity around track allocation and assignment to complexity bands, particularly where cases settle before allocation. He said settlement figures are often not a reliable indicator of a claim’s true value, which can make it difficult for claimant lawyers to advise clients at the outset on how costs will be dealt with. APIL was responding to a Civil Procedure Rule Committee and Ministry of Justice stocktake of the reforms, which introduced a new intermediate track for claims valued between £25,000 and £100,000 and applied FRC to all fast-track cases. Mr McQuater said the rules should require parties to attempt to agree track allocation and, where appropriate, complexity banding at an early stage, and called for personal injury cases to be removed from complexity band 1 in the intermediate track.

APN commonly refers to an “accelerated payment notice” in UK tax practice. It is a statutory notice issued by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) under Finance Act 2014 requiring upfront payment of disputed tax, usually in relation to tax avoidance schemes, before the substantive dispute is finally resolved. An APN is not a tax assessment but a payment mechanism. It can be issued where the taxpayer has used arrangements subject to a DOTAS (Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes) reference number, a follower notice, or GAAR-related rules. The amount demanded reflects HMRC’s view of the tax at stake. Strict statutory time limits apply to representations against an APN, but there is no right of appeal to the tax tribunal against the notice itself; disputes typically focus on judicial review grounds (legality, rationality, procedural fairness). Accelerated payment notices are specific to the UK (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and do not exist in Irish tax legislation, where Revenue uses different collection powers. In UK tax litigation and advisory work, APNs are a key consideration in managing cash flow, settlement strategy and the risks of participating in avoidance arrangements.

HM Treasury (HMT) has published a final draft of the Payment Services (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which will allow payment service providers (PSPs) to slow down payments processing when there are reasonable grounds to suspect fraud or dishonesty. The legislation, which will be laid before Parliament shortly after its return from conference recess, aims to support efforts to tackle authorised push payment (APP) fraud.

Ireland—Banking & Financial Services analysis: This article, was written by Paul Convery of William Fry LLP and discusses Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, where individuals are tricked into sending money to fraudsters. It examines recent UK legal cases, such as Larsson v Revolut, which questions banks' duties in fraud prevention, and Terna Energy Trading v Revolut, which explores unjust enrichment claims. The article also touches on Ireland’s legal stance, highlighting the growing need for stronger protections. It underscores the challenges in holding financial institutions accountable and the evolving legal landscape around APP fraud.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Acquired Brain Injury and UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) has published a report quantifying the economic and wellbeing costs of acquired brain injury (ABI) in the UK. The report estimates annual economic costs of £43bn, comprising £20bn in NHS and social care costs, £21.5bn in lost productivity and £1.5bn in criminal justice and education costs. The study also calculates wellbeing costs of £91.5bn. The report recommends introducing a statutory Right to Rehab and establishing new funding mechanisms for community neurorehabilitation services.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking has published a manifesto setting out policy recommendations for the next Parliament on how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) interact with lending. It argues that firms are not seeking finance in the first place or not being approved for loans when they do, even if many of them are creditworthy. The  APPG says the Business Banking Resolution Service ‘has been an abject failure which clearly highlights that voluntary schemes do not work’, and says ‘we can no longer avoid a statutory mechanism’.

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has published a report on its call for evidence about the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The report includes a number of criticisms, drawn from the written testimonies of 174 individuals who have engaged with the FCA other than through the normal course of working in the financial services industry the evidence received, and a number of recommendations.