The Civil Liability Bill – What are the potential timings?

The talk of the day is this morning’s announcement that the Civil Liability Bill will be introduced into the House of Lords later, with the publication of the Bill itself tomorrow. There will be plenty to discuss once there is a little more clarity on the reforms as set out in the Bill, particularly around the whiplash definition.

In the meantime, we thought that it would be helpful to set out an indicative timeline for the Civil Liability Bill. This is by no means set in stone – parliamentary timings are uncertain at any point, let alone at the moment with an unstable Government and the distractions caused by Brexit negotiations. However, educated guesses can be made at this stage based on a number of assumptions (as outlined at the end of this alert).

The Keoghs Market Affairs Team will keep close to this piece of legislation as it develops – both in terms of monitoring its progress and in influencing outcomes through parliamentary engagement. Watch this space…!

Assumptions

We have predicted timings based on the following:

• The parliamentary stages a Bill has to go through before receiving Royal Assent
• The parliamentary protocols on the time that needs to elapse before a Bill proceeds from one stage to another
• The periods of time being taken by two current Bills to go through their parliamentary stages, namely the Financial Guidance & Claims Bill and the Sanctions & Anti-Money Laundering Bill
• The current political environment and recent comments/recommendations from the Justice Select Committee mean that opposition to the Bill is extremely likely
• Parliament’s recess dates, i.e.:
  • Easter 29 March - 16 April 2018
  • May 3 - 8 May 2018
  • Whitsun 24 May – 4 June 2018
  • Summer 24 July - 4 September 2018
  • Conference 13 September - 9 October 2018
  • November 6 November - 12 November 2018
  • Christmas 20 December 2018 - 7 January 2019