Agreement for Services & Terms of Business

5.2.  VAT on Our Fees is payable in addition. The current rate of VAT is 20%. However, the total payable for Our Fees plus VAT is capped at 50% of the Settlement Amount recovered.

5.3.  The settlement amounts illustrated above are not to be taken as an estimate of the amount likely to be recovered for You.

5.4.  The amount You pay for Our Fees shall be net of any costs and any of Our disbursements or expenses that have been paid or are payable by any Third Party (or anyone else). However, We consider it is most unlikely that any of Our Fees, disbursements or expenses will be paid or payable by any Third Party (or anyone else).

5.5.  As a result, Our Fees will be payable from the Settlement Amount and will reduce the amount of cash in hand compensation/redress You will retain. If You have arrears or outstanding liabilities on Your finance the Third Party may use all or part of the Settlement Amount to pay those before making any payment to You. In this case You will still be required to pay Our Fees, calculated as the percentage set out in the table above of the full Settlement Amount. 

5.6.  You will notify Us of any payment or reduction made by the Third Party within 5 working days of You becoming aware of it. If a Settlement Amount is recovered by You based on a Claim made by Us to the Third Party, at any time and whether or not the Agreement has terminated in accordance with this Agreement, You will be liable to pay our Fees.

5.7.  An invoice for Our Fees will be raised upon recovery of any Settlement Amount.

​5.8.  Any invoice We issue will specify how long You have to pay it. In respect of any unpaid invoices, We may at our discretion:

5.8.1. deduct the sums due from the Settlement Amount recovered;

5.8.2. commence debt collection proceedings to recover the amount due; and

5.8.3. charge interest on the amount unpaid at the rate of 8% per annum. 

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5.9.  The reason for setting Our Fees at the levels set out above are:

5.9.1 The risk that We will not be paid anything if You do not recover a Settlement Amount; 

5.9.2 The time that We expect We will spend in pursuing Your claim, based on our experience of other cases (rather than the facts of Your specific case); and

5.9.3 The caps imposed on the fees We can charge by the Financial Conduct Authority.

5.10. We may enter into a fee-sharing arrangement with a Funder.  Under the terms of this Agreement, We may share our Fees with the Funder.  This arrangement in no way impacts how We approach Your claim or our duties to You as our Client.  In the event such an arrangement is entered into, You agree that We may share information about Your Claim with the Funder who funds it.  

5.11.  We may set off any Fees or other amount that You owe to Us under any other Agreement between You and Us against any liability that We have to make payment to You. If We do this, Our other rights or remedies under the Agreement or any other Agreement between You and Us will not be affected.

5.12.   Once Our invoice(s) and Fees have been settled in full Our responsibilities and obligations to You in connection with this Agreement will cease immediately. 

5.13.  We reserve the right to charge You for any reasonable costs incurred in seeking to recover Our Fees from You, if Our Fees are unpaid by You after 10 Working Days. 

 

6.    Cancelling this Agreement 

 

6.1.   You have the right to cancel the Agreement within 14 days without giving any reason (the “Cancellation Period”), subject to Clause 6.3. The Cancellation Period will expire after 14 days from the date You signed these Terms of Business and Letter of Authority form and return them to Us (i.e. when this Agreement is entered into). You must inform Us of Your decision to cancel the Agreement by a clear statement and any reasonable means which includes telephone, email, or post. Our details are provided in the recitals to this Agreement. You may use the model cancellation form which is contained in Your claim pack, but it is not obligatory, and You may provide to Us any other clear statement setting out the decision to cancel the Agreement.

6.2.   If You cancel the Agreement during the 14-day Cancellation period, You will not be liable for any Fees or pay any other financial penalty (save as set out in Clause 6.3).

6.3.   By signing this Agreement, You hereby make an express request that We begin the supply of the Services before the end of the Cancellation Period. You acknowledge that as a result of making this express request:

6.3.1  Where We begin the supply of the Services in response to Your express request, and You then cancel this Agreement within the Cancellation Period, then You must pay Us an amount which is in proportion to what has been supplied, in comparison with the full coverage of this Agreement. We will calculate the amount due at the time spent at £175 per hour (inclusive of VAT), capped at £60 (inclusive of VAT); and

6.3.2 You will lose Your right to cancel once this Agreement has been fully performed by Us. 

 

7.    Termination

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7.1.   You are entitled to terminate this Agreement after the 14-day Cancellation Period but, if You do so: 

7.1.1. You will be liable to pay Us our reasonable costs incurred in relation to Our Services at the rate of £175 including VAT per hour (the “Termination Fees”). We will send You an invoice detailing how We have arrived at our Termination Fees in relation to Your Claim(s).

7.1.2 If You go on to recover a Settlement Amount in relation to Your Claim(s), then You will also pay Our Fees calculated in accordance with Clause 5. We will give credit for the Termination Fees and the total payable shall be limited to Our Fees.

7.2.   You should notify Us of Your intention to terminate the Agreement preferably in writing, by post or email.

7.3.   We have the right to immediately terminate the Agreement (or decide to terminate the provision of Services related to a particular Claim) on written notice if: a) We, in our fair and reasonable discretion, determine that; (i) there is no realistic prospect of the claim being successful, or (ii) the claim is not financially viable for Us to pursue, b) You commit a material breach of the Agreement and (if the breach is remediable) fail to remedy the breach within 14 days of being notified of the breach in writing; or c) You are unable to pay Your debts or are deemed to have no reasonable prospect of doing so, in either case within the meaning of section 268 of the Insolvency Act 1986, or are the subject of a bankruptcy petition or order or (d) the Financial Ombudsman Service or other party introduce a fee payable to continue to representing You with any specific claim or claims.

7.4.   For the avoidance of doubt, if, after the Cancellation Period, You independently accept a Settlement Offer or receive a Settlement Amount based on a Claim made by Us to the Third Party, and attempt to terminate the Agreement with Us, You will be liable to pay our Fees.

 

8.    Principals Risks to You / Limitations of Our liability

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8.1.   You should be aware that You have the following principal risks: 

8.1.1. If You have outstanding liabilities to the Third Party which the Third Party is entitled to offset against the compensation/redress owed to You in respect of the Claim, there is the possibility of You not recovering any cash in hand redress but becoming liable to pay our Fees from Your own funds; and

8.1.2. If You, whether in the United Kingdom or in another jurisdiction, have been subject to bankruptcy, a debt relief order, an IVA, sequestration or a similar arrangement any compensation/redress might be off-set against Your outstanding debts and You may still be liable to pay our Fees from Your own funds. 

8.2.   If any form of tax is payable by You or on Your behalf in relation to the Settlement Amount (such as income tax which is payable by You in respect of the interest paid to You as part of the Settlement Amount), You shall be fully responsible for such payment and We shall have no responsibility to make such payment on Your behalf.  

8.3.   We shall have no liability to You for any loss to the extent it arises as a result of the information provided by You in connection with Your Claim being inaccurate or incomplete, unless the reason for it being incomplete is due to a failure by Us to identify the necessary information as part of our standard claims procedures.

8.4.   Nothing in the Agreement shall exclude or limit any liability of ours which may not be legally excluded or limited.  

  

9.    General Terms

 

9.1.   You agree that We may:

9.1.1. subcontract any of our obligations under this Agreement, by giving You Personal Notice. Your rights under the Agreement will not be reduced as a result. 

9.1.2. transfer or assign our rights and obligations to another provider of claims management services regulated by the FCA that We consider is suitable to manage Your Claim, who will then take over management of Your Claim, by giving You Personal Notice. This will not increase the fees that You are liable to pay under this Agreement; and/or

9.1.3. transfer or assign the benefit of any or all such rights under or relating to this Agreement to any of our affiliates, Funders, investors or any other third party, without prior notice to you.  Any such transfer or assignment under this Agreement to a Funder, Insurer, Claims Management Company or Law Firm will not affect the way We will deal with Your claim.

9.2.   In the event that to complete any transfer or assignment in accordance with clause 9.1 You are required to sign documentation, You agree that You shall use reasonable endeavours to do so.

9.3.   If any event beyond our reasonable control prevents or hinders Us from performing our obligations under this Agreement, We shall not be deemed to have breached this Agreement.

9.4.   If We waive any breach of the Agreement that shall not be considered to be a waiver of any subsequent breach.

9.5.   A reference to Us also refers to any successor business or businesses that continue to carry on the services for Us.  

9.6.   The Agreement with You is governed by the laws of England and Wales, and any dispute or claim which arises in relation to this Agreement (and any contractual or non-contractual rights) will be brought in the courts of England and Wales.

9.7.   If any term or provision in this Agreement shall in whole or in part be held to any extent to be, or to cause this Agreement in whole or in part to be, illegal, impermissible or unenforceable under any enactment or rule of law, that term or provision or part thereof shall to that extent be deemed not to form part of this Agreement and the enforceability of the remainder of this Agreement shall not be affected. In particular, if it is held that the Termination Fees (or any other fees payable under this Agreement where Settlement Amounts have not been recovered) are illegal, impermissible or unenforceable, those fees shall be severed from this Agreement but the Fees calculated in accordance with Clause 5 shall remain payable.

9.8.   You agree that We are entitled to keep any money, papers, documents or other property held on Your behalf until all money due to Us is paid. You agree that this right (which is known as a lien) survives termination, so we may exercise it after this Agreement ends.

 

10.   Data Protection Statement 

 

10.1.   We will use Your personal information for the purpose of providing You with our Services and for direct marketing if You consent to it or if We can rely on the legitimate interest lawful basis under the UK GDPR. The personal information You must provide for the purpose of the Agreement is indicated on the Letter of Authority; without it, We cannot provide our Services.

10.2.   If You consent or We rely on the legitimate interest lawful basis under the UK GDPR, We will contact You by post, email, text and with details of our products and services which We think may be of interest to You. If You wish to stop hearing about or receiving information on our products and services, use the opt out in the email/ texts or call Us.

10.3.   If You give Us Your email address and communicate with Us over the internet, We will assume that You accept the level of security in such communications and agree that We can communicate with You by email and other internet means. We set transport layer security (“TLS”) on our emails and We encourage You to do the same, so that the communications between Us are encrypted. Please also encrypt documents before sending them to Us and provide the encryption key to Us by a means other than email, such as a call. 

10.4.   If Your Claim came through a third-party introducer, You have a relationship with the third-party introducer, We will need You to share information about Your claim with them.

10.5.   We will also share information with the Funder who has funded Your Claim, and You agree that We may do so.  

10.6.   We record and monitor all incoming and outgoing calls to comply with our regulatory requirements and to improve our Services.

10.7.   We will keep Your personal information for up to 10 years after the end of the Agreement between Us. After that We will review Your personal information and delete it if there is no business need for Us to keep it for a longer period, for example for the purpose of a legal claim or for tax reasons.

10.8.   For more about how We process Your personal data, We recommend You review Our full privacy notice on our website at: www.claim-smart.co.uk or ask Us for a copy and We will provide it to You

 

11.    Changes to this Agreement

 

11.1.   If We are providing You with a Service in respect of which We are entitled to a fee, We may make changes to our fees, including introducing new fees and charges and making changes to the basis on which We charge for providing Services, by giving You Personal Notice.

11.2.   We may make any other changes to the Agreement, making changes to the basis on which We charge for providing Services, by giving You Personal Notice. 

11.3.   We may make changes under clause 11.1 or 11.2:

11.3.1. Following or in anticipation of any change in law, regulation, industry guidance or code of practice; 

11.3.2. Where the existing terms are or might be found in whole or in part to be unenforceable, unlawful or illegal in any way; or

11.3.3. To respond to changes to changes or anticipated changes in the costs that We incur to Third Parties in relation to our provision of the Services.

11.4.  Where We make any change under clause 11.1 or 11.2 the change will be proportionate to the underlying reason for the change and We will explain the reason to You.

11.5.   When We give You Personal Notice of a change We intend to make in accordance with clause 11.1 or 11.2, before the change takes effect You may end the Agreement without incurring a charge by giving Us notice in writing and such notice will take immediate effect.

11.6.   If You do not tell Us that You want to end the Agreement as described in paragraph 11.5 before the date each change is to take effect, then You will be deemed to have accepted the change and it will take effect automatically from the date detailed in Your Personal Notice. 

 

12.   Complaints

 

12.1.   We aim to provide the highest possible level of service to all customers. If You are unhappy with any aspect of the service, then please raise Your concern with Us immediately. We operate a complaints procedure in accordance with rules made by the Financial Conduct Authority which are designed to help Us to resolve any complaint You may have as quickly as possible. A copy of the complaint’s procedure is available at: www.claim-smart.co.uk or on request from Us. You have the right to refer Your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Details of which can be found at: www.finanical-ombusman.org.uk.

 

By Signing below, You agree to this Agreement for Services and Terms of Business and enter into an Agreement for our Services.  For a Summary of these Terms please refer to (and retain) Our Service Summary document enclosed within Your claim pack. 

 

A version of these Terms shall be published on Our website: www.claim-smart.co.uk 

 

Version 1.02

 

I/We confirm that I/We have read and understood this Agreement and agree to be bound by the Terms contained herein: 

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