UK Clinical Negligence Market Report 2025

The eighth edition of an annual market report which provides a review of the clinical negligence legal market, looking at the legislative background, recent market developments and drivers, market structure, market size and trends with historical volume and value data, the key players and future market developments.

Revenue from CN cases increases as more cases processed and legal fees grow

Key findings are:

• In the year 2024/25 (to end-March), the publisher estimates law firms earned revenue of around £1.7 billion from CN cases, an increase of 8.1% over 203/24.
• CN case numbers (registered at the Compensation Recovery Unit) increased again in 2024/25 reaching 16,395, growing by 6.5% on 15,389 cases in the previous year. Cases settled slipped to 16,536 from 17,409 a year earlier. It should be noted that these cases settled will include cases started a few years ago.
• Both claims reported and closed at NHS Resolution (NHSR) increased in 2024/25. The largest categories of claims by volume at NHSR are emergency medicine (14%), orthopaedics (12%), and obstetrics (11%). Measured by value, obstetrics dominates with a 53% share and in second place is emergency medicine at 16%.
• Total expenditure on claims settled by the NHS increased by 9.5% in 2024/25 to over three billion (£3.1 billion) from £2.82 billion in 2023/24. There was a notable increase in claimant legal fees in 2024/25 with an increase of 13.8% on 2023/24.
• In the coming year, we expect both claims registered and settled to increase. In the last three years, claims registered at both the CRU and NHSR have grown in each year and, in the medium term, this points to an increase in claims settled or closed. Market value growth is forecast to be around 7-8% for each of the next two years.
• One block on growth could be the possibility of fixed recoverable costs (FRCs) being introduced for lower-value CN claims (up to £25,000). The Labour Government seemed to have kicked this into the long grass but in the minutes of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee, 4th June 2025, Mr Justice Trower (Costs Sub-Committee Chair) answered a question by stating that “Currently, the government is considering the way forward on clinical negligence fixed recoverable costs and an announcement on the government’s position is anticipated in due course”.