National law firm network QualitySolicitors is to launch a new personal injury claims management scheme designed to target claimants from higher socio-economic groups and drive down the cost of referrals, the Gazette can reveal.

QualitySolicitors Personal Injury (QSPI) is a members-only claims management-style company which will be launched in June. The scheme will be run by law firms including Leeds firm Morrish, north-west firm Stephensons and Bristol’s Burroughs Day.

QualitySolicitors chief executive Craig Holt said individual personal injury cases are ­frequently sold by conventional claims management companies (CMCs) for as much as £1,000 per case, whereas QSPI’s target cost per case is £220.

‘Marketing collectives are supposed to drive down costs by taking advantage of economies of scale,’ said Holt. ‘In fact, most PI firms have simply become hostages to fortune with CMCs acting in an anti-competitive way and fixing prices.’

He added: ‘All it takes is one sufficiently large and powerful organisation to reverse the trend and start driving costs down, and these other CMCs will be forced to follow suit or lose their clients.’

The scheme’s launch will be accompanied by a TV advertising campaign, seeking to appeal to a different demographic from most of the current marketing done by claims management companies, Holt said.

QSPI will run adverts on prime-time television designed to attract the so-called A, B, and C1 socio-economic groups, rather than the daytime advertising slots used by other CMCs, which are considered to attract lower socio-economic groups.

Holt said the new marketing approach was designed to attract people who had previously viewed seeking compensation as ‘unsavoury’ because of ‘tacky marketing by CMCs and insurer-led compensation culture propaganda’.