Andrew Cousins

A Practical Guide to the Compensation Recovery Unit and NHS Charges in Personal Injury Claims in England & Wales Andrew Cousins

The Compensation Recovery Unit provides a system whereby the Department for Work and Pensions may clawback a proportion of some of the damages awarded or agreed to be paid to a person in respect of certain state benefits obtained by that person in consequence of an accident, injury or disease. Parties to a claim need to be able to advise their clients as to approach the CRU liability and Compensators need to be able to advise how to offset their CRU liabilities against the claim presented, and if necessary seek to appeal the liabilities and recover them from the Department for Work and Pensions.

This area of law affects a number of aspects of the case and can sometimes be neglected by parties as the substantive claim is dealt with. This can cause difficulties when settlement is negotiated as it can prove difficult to finalise the settlement figures. The aim of this book is to provide a practical guide to all stages of the CRU and NHS process, from inception of the claim right through to the appellate process for recovery of benefits paid to the CRU.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Cousins is a Barrister at DWF Advocacy Limited and advises on a wide range of civil litigation matters. Andrew qualified as a Legal Executive in 2006, a Solicitor in 2011 and was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 2017. Andrew has a background in personal injury, coronial and regulatory law. Andrew has advised clients in respect of CRU issues from the outset of a claim up to and including appearing before the Social Entitlement Chamber on behalf of Compensators in CRU appeals. Andrew has advised both Claimants and Defendants in relation to personal injury and CRU work and has given a number of training presentations on this area of law.