Campaigners against the misuse of non-disclosure agreements say the case for reform can no longer be argued after a new report on their impact.

The Legal Services Board last week published evidence of the ‘devastating impact’ on people’s lives when NDAs have been used to cover up misconduct and intimidate or silence victims.

Campaign group Can’t Buy My Silence said the report confirmed what it has been trying to highlight and showed there is an urgent need for legislation to prevent misuse.

‘This is yet another official report that details the devastating impacts abusive NDAs have on people’s lives and the gap in lawyers’ knowledge on how to negotiate these agreements appropriately,’ said group co-founder Zelda Perkins. ‘The evidence clearly confirms our data and we welcome that the LSB undertook this research and has made these findings public.

‘There can no longer be any question of the issues at stake and we continue to urge both the legal sector and the government to make decisive reforms.’

Zelda Perkins

Perkins: 'No longer any question of the issues at stake'

Source: Alamy

The group said the government continues to ‘drag its feet on protecting victims’ from abusive NDAs. It is almost five years since then-prime minister Theresa May spoke out against the ‘unethical misuse’ of NDAs.

In January, the prime minister Rishi Sunak said that while NDAs can have a place in protecting victims, they should not be used to stop people getting the justice they deserve. He said then that the Ministry of Justice was ‘carefully considering’ how best to address this issue, including through the use of legislation.

Perkins, who began campaigning in 2017 after breaking an NDA she signed with her former employer Harvey Weinstein, launched Can’t Buy My Silence with Canadian law professor Julia Macfarlane.

The group urged the SRA and lawyer representative groups to unite in calling for legislative reform to stop NDAs being used to harm victims and erode the integrity of the law.

It is calling for the government to expand the Higher Education (freedom of speech) Act 2023 which outlaws NDAs in universities and colleges in cases of harassment, sexism, bullying and discrimination. The group argues this can be extended to the wider workplace.

Last week, LSB chief executive Matthew Hill said its report ‘forms an important part of our evidence base as we consider whether the regulatory framework may need to be adapted’.

 

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