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Service · Solicitor partners
Solicitor Partners
We introduce non-fault accident customers reporting injury to a small, vetted panel of authorised solicitor firms and SRA-regulated alternative business structures. Introductions are made only with the customer's separate written consent under UK GDPR Article 7, and all introduction arrangements comply with the LASPO 2012 PI referral fee ban, the SRA Standards & Regulations, the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal protocol and the Civil Liability Act 2018 whiplash tariff regime. Where a panel partner is an FCA-authorised regulated CMC, the FCA Claims Management Conduct of Business sourcebook (CMCOB) also applies to that partner. CityGrip Accident Claims is a UK accident claim management business - we do not handle personal injury claims directly and do not provide legal advice.
- Independent engineer (not insurer panel)
- Like-for-like replacement (ULEZ-compliant)
- Direct dialogue with at-fault insurer
- No success, No fee
24/7
Dispatch
£0
Upfront
PAS 125
Repair std
24/7
UK response
Recovery dispatch and live claim handlers, 365 days a year.
Response
<60m
First contact SLA
Cost
£0
Upfront to driver
Cost to you
£0 upfront · No success, No fee
Response time
Under 60 minutes, 24/7
Window of urgency
14-day CCTV retention
Coverage
UK-wide · 24/7
What is solicitor partners and when does it apply?
We introduce non-fault accident customers reporting injury to a small, vetted panel of authorised solicitor firms and SRA-regulated alternative business structures. Introductions are made only with the customer's separate written consent under UK GDPR Article 7, and all introduction arrangements comply with the LASPO 2012 PI referral fee ban, the SRA Standards & Regulations, the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal protocol and the Civil Liability Act 2018 whiplash tariff regime. Where a panel partner is an FCA-authorised regulated CMC, the FCA Claims Management Conduct of Business sourcebook (CMCOB) also applies to that partner. CityGrip Accident Claims is a UK accident claim management business - we do not handle personal injury claims directly and do not provide legal advice. It applies to: Non-fault motor accident customers reporting injury or symptom onset; Customers wanting independent legal advice on a multi-track injury claim (£25k+ damages); Cyclist, motorcyclist or pedestrian non-fault claims with complex liability.
Ranking factors
What makes a solicitor partners claim stronger
These are the practical ranking factors our handlers look for before a solicitor partners file is sent to the at-fault insurer. They help the page answer search intent and help the claim itself stand up to scrutiny.
Liability clarity
Solicitor partners files rank strongest when the accident narrative, photos and third-party details all point to the same non-fault sequence.
fault position
Evidence speed
The first 72 hours matter because CCTV, dashcam and witness memory fade quickly. We prioritise current sra practising certificate (or fca permission for regulated cmcs) and pi department capacity statement (fte caseworkers, case-load average, response sla) before the evidence window closes.
fresh proof
Mitigation and need
Replacement vehicle, recovery and storage costs must stay proportionate. The file is stronger when the reason for each cost is recorded before the at-fault insurer challenges it.
cost control
Repair standard
Independent engineering, PAS 125 / BS 10125 repair routing and clear total-loss notes help separate necessary work from insurer-panel shortcuts.
engineering
Communication record
Call notes, emails, consent records and insurer responses create a clean audit trail, especially where solicitor partners needs urgent action.
audit trail
Compliance boundary
We keep accident management, credit hire, repair and any personal-injury referral in separate consent lanes so the page and the claim remain clear.
regulated process
What this service is
Solicitor partners explained, in plain English
We introduce non-fault accident customers reporting injury to a small, vetted panel of authorised solicitor firms and SRA-regulated alternative business structures. Introductions are made only with the customer's separate written consent under UK GDPR Article 7, and all introduction arrangements comply with the LASPO 2012 PI referral fee ban, the SRA Standards & Regulations, the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal protocol and the Civil Liability Act 2018 whiplash tariff regime. Where a panel partner is an FCA-authorised regulated CMC, the FCA Claims Management Conduct of Business sourcebook (CMCOB) also applies to that partner. CityGrip Accident Claims is a UK accident claim management business - we do not handle personal injury claims directly and do not provide legal advice.
"Capture explicit, separate, opt-in injury-referral consent at the customer's intake (UK GDPR Article 7(2); PECR)"- handler note for solicitor partners
When it applies
Situations where solicitor partners fits
Not every collision needs every service line. Solicitor partners is the right route where one or more of the following applies:
- Non-fault motor accident customers reporting injury or symptom onset
- Customers wanting independent legal advice on a multi-track injury claim (£25k+ damages)
- Cyclist, motorcyclist or pedestrian non-fault claims with complex liability
- Customers needing the Official Injury Claim portal walked through (small-claim soft-tissue cases under £5k)
How we help
The solicitor partners workflow, step-by-step
Each step below is something we actually do for you on this service line - not a generic claims-handling description. Each step is documented in the file we open in your name.
A
What we do
- 1
Capture explicit, separate, opt-in injury-referral consent at the customer's intake (UK GDPR Article 7(2); PECR)
- 2
Provide the customer with a choice of two panel firms in their region, with each firm's specialism summarised
- 3
Pass the customer's contact details and a brief case summary to the chosen firm within 24 hours
- 4
Provide the firm with the property-damage claim file (police reference, third-party insurer details, engineer report, photos) on instruction
- 5
Coordinate evidence requests on the firm's behalf for OIC portal cases where the customer needs OIC walkthrough support
- 6
Track referral outcomes anonymously (referred / instructed / settled) for compliance audit purposes only - never tied to identifiable customer data
B
What happens next
- 1
Panel firm contacts the customer within 24 hours of referral, by the contact method the customer specified
- 2
Initial conflict and ID check, then the firm sends its own client care letter and terms of business
- 3
Customer instructs the firm independently - we have no role in the customer-firm engagement
- 4
Where the customer elects not to instruct, the referral is closed and the firm retains no customer data beyond its regulatory minimum
- 5
On settled cases, the firm provides anonymised settlement data for our quarterly outcomes review
Documents needed
What to gather before you call
You do not need to have everything to hand to open the file - but the more of the list below we have at intake, the faster solicitor partners runs.
Current SRA practising certificate (or FCA permission for regulated CMCs)
PI department capacity statement (FTE caseworkers, case-load average, response SLA)
Sample client care letter and complaints procedure
Conflict-of-interest and AML procedures
Professional indemnity insurance certificate (£3m+ on motor PI)
Three solicitor / counsel references and one regulator-facing reference
What to avoid
Solicitor partners pitfalls - what not to do
Each item below is a common, preventable mistake on solicitor partners. Most can be fixed if caught early; some - like premature repair before engineer inspection - cannot.
- No prohibited PI referral fees - section 56 of LASPO 2012 prohibits payment of referral fees in personal injury cases by regulated providers
- No undisclosed inducements, gifts or hospitality to the referring intake team
- No marketing the customer for other products without separate consent (UK GDPR Article 7 / PECR Reg 22)
- No 'first call' approaches to the customer before consent has been logged at our end - that would breach PECR and trigger an SRA Code 1.3 issue
- No automatic substitution of panel firms without the customer's knowledge - if the panel firm cannot take the case, we go back to the customer with a fresh choice
Compliance disclaimer
Personal injury introductions must comply with section 56 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (the PI referral fee ban), the SRA Standards and Regulations and UK GDPR Article 7. Where a panel partner is a regulated CMC, the FCA Claims Management Conduct of Business sourcebook (CMCOB) also applies to that partner. CityGrip Accident Claims is a UK accident claim management business - we do not handle personal injury claims directly and do not provide legal advice, and we do not pay or accept prohibited referral fees in personal injury matters.
We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your separate written consent (UK GDPR Article 7) to authorised legal or regulated partners.
Deep dive
Solicitor partners in detail
Why the panel is deliberately small
Many accident-management businesses operate a long panel of solicitor firms in each region - sometimes 10 or 15 in a single city. The economics make sense to them: more firms means more competition for referrals, which means more downward pressure on whatever residual commercial terms can be agreed.
We operate the opposite model. Our panel is deliberately small - typically two to four firms per region, occasionally only one in less populated regions. The reason is regulatory and operational: a panel firm only commits to a meaningful response SLA, to keeping case data clean against our claim reference, and to participating in the quarterly review if they have enough volume from us to justify the integration. A long panel produces low average volume per firm, which produces a thin commercial relationship, which produces variable customer service. A short panel produces high average volume per firm, which produces a deep relationship, which produces consistent customer service.
The trade-off is that not every solicitor firm gets onto the panel. Selection is annual, based on SRA standing, PI department capacity, regional coverage, customer satisfaction track record and specialism. We are not trying to be a marketplace; we are trying to be a quality referral channel.
LASPO, SRA - the regulatory frame around injury introductions
Personal injury introductions in the UK sit inside two regulatory regimes that apply directly, plus the FCA's Claims Management Conduct of Business sourcebook (CMCOB) that applies to any regulated CMC on the panel. The first is the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, section 56 - the statutory ban on referral fees in PI matters. The ban is broad: it covers cash payments, in-kind benefits, undisclosed inducements and indirect arrangements designed to look like other things. It does not prevent paid ancillary services (e.g. evidence collation) where the payment reflects actual cost and is documented; the boundary is whether the payment is, in substance, a fee for the referral.
The second is the SRA Standards and Regulations, which apply directly to the solicitor firm and indirectly to us through the firm's conduct obligations. The SRA's Code of Conduct rule 5.1(b) requires firms to satisfy themselves that introductions from third parties do not breach LASPO; rule 5.1(c) requires the firm to ensure customer consent to the introduction is informed and freely given. We provide the consent record at introduction so the firm can satisfy itself on rule 5.1(c).
CityGrip Accident Claims is a UK accident claim management business - we are not an FCA-authorised CMC and we do not provide regulated claims-management advice. The introduction model is built so that the regulated work (legal advice, conduct of any injury claim) sits with the authorised solicitor partner under their SRA conduct obligations, and any regulated CMC on the panel operates under their own FCA CMCOB permissions. Our role is limited to capturing genuine, opt-in consent, presenting the panel firms fairly and never favouring one firm on commercial grounds.
SOLICITOR PARTNERS
03
Section 3 of the walkthrough.
The OIC portal and the Civil Liability Act 2018
The Civil Liability Act 2018 introduced two material changes to motor PI in England and Wales (the regime in Scotland is different - Scotland retained the pre-CLA position). First, it set a tariff for whiplash and minor soft-tissue injuries (the schedule of tariffs is in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021). Second, it lifted the small-claims track limit for road traffic personal injury from £1,000 to £5,000, meaning the majority of motor PI cases now sit in the small-claims track where legal costs are not recoverable.
Most small-claims-track motor PI cases run through the Official Injury Claim portal at officialinjuryclaim.org.uk, operated by the Motor Insurers' Bureau on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. The portal is designed for self-represented claimants - many customers can use it without a solicitor. Where the case is genuinely in scope of the tariff and the claim is straightforward, our position is to point the customer to the portal and provide OIC walkthrough guidance, rather than refer to a solicitor.
Where the case is not in scope - injury exceeds the tariff, liability is contested, the customer is a vulnerable adult, or there are catastrophic or psychological consequences - the case sits in the fast-track or multi-track and a solicitor is the right route. Our panel firms either take OIC-track work (some do, on a low-volume high-throughput model) or focus exclusively on fast-track and multi-track. We route accordingly.
Onboarding a panel firm - what to expect
Onboarding takes 30 to 45 days from initial expression of interest. The process is: written expression of interest with a capacity statement and regulatory documentation; a video review meeting with our network manager; reference calls to two practising solicitors who have referred work to the firm and one regulator-facing contact (typically an SRA caseworker who has dealt with the firm on routine matters); a written agreement covering data-sharing under UK GDPR, anti-money-laundering checks, complaints handling, and the quarterly review cycle; and a soft-start window of 2-4 referrals per week for the first month.
After the soft-start window, volume scales to the agreed level. For a generalist motor PI firm with capacity for 50-80 active cases, the typical referral volume is 6-10 per week from us. For a specialist firm (cycling claims, traumatic brain injury), the volume is lower but the average case value is higher.
The agreement is at-will, terminable by either side on 90 days' notice, or immediately for material breach. Material breach would include: an SRA intervention, an FCA permission withdrawal, a UK GDPR or AML breach affecting referred customers, or a sustained pattern of customer complaints that the firm has not addressed despite remediation discussions.
Quick eligibility check
Could you open a solicitor partners claim?
Three questions. If you can answer "yes" to all three, we can open a file for you in under five minutes - no upfront cost, no obligation.
- 1
Was the collision in the UK in the last 3 years?
Property-damage claims have a 6-year limitation; injury claims have 3 years from the date of accident under the Limitation Act 1980. Older incidents can still be reviewed - call us.
- 2
Is the other driver clearly at fault (or uninsured/untraced)?
Non-fault means the at-fault insurer pays the schedule. Uninsured / untraced is handled through the Motor Insurers' Bureau under the 2017 agreements.
- 3
Did you exchange details, or report the incident to police?
Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 covers the reporting duty. CRIS / CAD references are useful but not essential - we can request CCTV directly.
Why drivers switch to us
Solicitor partners with us vs the at-fault insurer's panel handler
The at-fault driver's insurer will offer to handle the claim through their own panel - repairer, hire company, engineer. That is their cost-control route. Below is what that route looks like, side-by-side with what we do for the same file.
| Decision point | At-fault insurer panel | With CityGrip |
|---|---|---|
| Engineer | Panel engineer paid out of cost-controlled budget | Independent engineer, retail repair scope |
| Replacement car | Class A economy courtesy car, 7-14 days max | Like-for-like credit hire, full repair window |
| Repair | Panel repairer to insurer time/cost SLA | PAS 125 / BSI 10125 partner, OEM parts where specified |
| Vehicle valuation | Trade / auction comparables | Retail comparables (Lagden v O'Connor) |
| Excess refund | You chase your own insurer | Recovered for you as part of the schedule |
| Schedule transparency | Bundled into a single offer | Itemised, disclosable on request |
| No-claims discount | Your own policy claim may impact NCD | Direct against at-fault insurer - NCD protected |
Source: panel-handling practice is documented across UK accident-management trade press and ABI GTA materials; our side reflects our standard service line.
Prefer to talk it through?
Speak to a UK accident handler now
We answer 24/7. No call queue, no recorded menu, no upsell. We take the details, tell you whether the claim is workable, and either open the file or point you to a route that suits you better. No obligation.
- Free 5-minute eligibility review
- Calls recorded for quality (notified before)
- Email / WhatsApp as an alternative
Tap to call
0330 043 3409
24/7 · UK accident handlers
Or email / form if you prefer asynchronous.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the LASPO PI referral fee ban affect our arrangement?
- Section 56 of LASPO 2012 prohibits the payment of a referral fee for prescribed legal business, which includes the conduct of personal injury claims. Our referral arrangement does not involve the payment or receipt of a referral fee on PI matters. Where we provide ancillary services to the panel firm (e.g. document collation, evidence packaging) those services are billed at cost-recovery rates documented in our written agreement, in line with LASPO and SRA guidance on what does and does not constitute a referral fee.
- What is the consent regime at the customer's end?
- We capture three separate, opt-in consents at intake under UK GDPR Article 7(2): data-sharing consent, marketing consent and injury-referral consent. The injury-referral consent is granular - it identifies the panel firms by name, identifies what data will be shared, and explains the customer's right to withdraw. None of the consents are pre-ticked, bundled or implied. The consent record is retained for 7 years and is auditable.
- Who handles small claims under the Civil Liability Act 2018?
- Whiplash and minor soft-tissue claims under £5,000 in damages fall under the Civil Liability Act 2018 tariff and are typically processed through the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal at officialinjuryclaim.org.uk. Many customers can run an OIC claim themselves without a solicitor. Where the customer prefers solicitor support inside the OIC track, we refer to a panel firm that has elected to take OIC-track work. For multi-track or fast-track claims above the small-claims threshold, the panel firm handles in the normal way.
- What is the panel composition and how do you choose firms?
- The panel is deliberately small - typically two to four firms per region - to ensure the customer gets a meaningful response and the firm gets a viable volume of referrals. Firm selection is based on SRA standing, PI department capacity, regional coverage, customer satisfaction track record and specialism (some firms are stronger on cycling cases, some on traumatic brain injury, etc.). Panel composition is reviewed annually with the named firms.
- Can a panel firm decline a referral?
- Yes - and they should, if there is a conflict, capacity issue or specialism mismatch. We do not penalise decline rates. Where a panel firm declines, we go back to the customer with the alternative panel firm in the region. The customer is never left without a route to advice.
- How is performance reviewed?
- Quarterly review with the named partner contact, covering: referral volume, instruction rate (% of referrals that resulted in instruction), case-handling SLAs, customer feedback, settled-case outcomes (anonymised). Annual review covers the same metrics plus regulatory standing, complaints record and any AML or SRA-flagged issues.
Built on UK standards
PAS 125 / BS 10125
Repair standard
ABI GTA
Credit-hire framework
ABI Salvage Code
Cat A/B/S/N
UK GDPR Art 7
Separate consents
MIB 2017
Uninsured / untraced
OIC portal
Tariff-track injury
Standards we work to. Not an endorsement by, or affiliation with, the named bodies.
Related service lines
Services that often run alongside solicitor partners
Non-fault accident claims →
End-to-end coordination for non-fault drivers.
Accident recovery →
24/7 dispatch to a CCTV-monitored partner yard.
Accident storage →
Daily-logged secure storage with photographic record.
Credit hire →
Like-for-like replacement vehicle subject to eligibility.
Repair management →
PAS 125 / BSI compliant approved partner repairers.
Engineer inspection →
Independent engineer, retail repair scope.
Talk to a real person
Ready to start a solicitor partners claim?UK accident support, end-to-end.
The fastest way is to call. Or start the digital accident form and our team will pick it up. Available across England, Scotland & Wales.
Calls may be recorded for quality and compliance. We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your consent to authorised partners.
Visit our team
London office
124 City Road
London, EC1V 2NX
Coverage
- Phone & accident form24 / 7
- Recovery dispatch24 / 7
- Repair coordinationMon-Sat 8:00 - 18:00
- SundaysEmergency only
45+UK cities
9vehicle types
GDPRcompliant
Tip: submit the accident form first - our team will call back with a reference and next steps.