Courts in the UK are coming under increasing pressure to relegate personal injury claims so that they have less relevance than criminal cases. In most instances personal injury cases have a victim and a culprit, whether through negligence, lack of training or ignorance. However, because no crime has been committed and there is very unlikely to be a prison sentence handed down, the government is proposing that legal aid is withdrawn from such cases. They see the personal injury world of the law as a victim, legitimate or otherwise, chasing money from some-one who’s fails to do their job properly in some way.

While car insurance companies are increasingly becoming drawn into this kind of case with accident victims claiming whiplash and back injuries, injuries which are very hard for doctors to identify and prove one way or another, this would appear to be the case. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to personal injury claims.

The chancellor wants to cut legal aid not only from divorce cases which are being contested but also from people who’ve been victims of medical negligence and people who wish to sue their local NHS Trust or the local authority.

The logic is easy to see; if the government pays for people to sue a hospital or council it’s effectively paying the court to sue itself and in many cases the award which the victim receives is far outstripped by the legal costs which are awarded against the guilty party. If this happens to be the hospital for example, the injured party might get a couple of hundred pounds for their distress and loss of earnings if they had to take a week or two off work but the legal teams might receive several thousands of pounds for their fees.

While this seems unfair and reasonable to stop paying for it, the reality of these circumstances is concealed. If you’re injured and you believe it’s down to a public sector employee’s negligence, if you can’t afford to sue them out of your own pocket then the costs of your medical treatment beyond the basic provision that the NHS and benefits services will have to be covered out of your own pocket. You might be entitled to statutory sick pay or disability allowance but anything beyond the basic will have to be covered out of your savings.

So you’re paying for an injury caused you by some-one else and they carry on regardless, possibly putting many more people at risk.

So, by cutting the number of cases for which legal aid is granted doesn’t just save the government money, it prevents the less well off from achieving justice when they find themselves unable to work through no fault of their own.

And personal injury cases aren’t simply about the victim getting some cash for their inconvenience. Personal injury claims can and do highlight criminal negligence and circumstances where the culprit is systematically endangering public health and even exposing them to the risk of permanent disability or death. Cutting spending on these cases will mean that people will be able to operate negligently until there is a catastrophe.

@DanCash is a feature writer living on the south coast. If you’re injured either at work, out on the street or you want to pursue a holiday accident claim or when receiving medical care then you should in the first instance consult a personal injury lawyer. If you want to make a compensation claim then get in touch with a reputable no-win-no-fee lawyer.