Applications for after-the-event insurance may miss the 1 April Jackson deadline if they are not made by next Monday, brokers have warned.

Commercial litigation broker The Judge has written to all solicitor clients warning of a backlog of files set to slow down the system in March.

Any ATE insurance taken out after 1 April will not be recoverable from the losing defendant, meaning firms are bundling several applications together in a bid to beat the deadline.

In a letter to solicitors sent last week, Hannah Lee-Davey, head of professional negligence applications for The Judge said: ‘We strongly urge that any outstanding applications are made by Monday, 4 March, as underwriters are already inundated with late referrals.

‘Indeed, given the large volumes of cases already being processed by insurers, it cannot be guaranteed that even applications made by this date will be assessed in time.’

James Delaney, a director of the firm, said lawyers were sending up to four applications each at a time and that demand had been ‘unprecedented’ in the past month. But with so little time before the Jackson reforms come into force, he said some would not be processed before 1 April.

‘We think some clients are going to miss the deadline and say they were not suitably advised,’ he added. ‘There will be cases that might have gone ahead prior to 1 April that will too expensive, and there could be negligence claims that come in after 1 April.’

Daniel Morris, director and co-founder of ATE insurer Box Legal, agreed that solicitors could face claims from clients if they have not acted quickly enough to process insurance.

He said his firm was advising the 250 practices on its panel to ‘check their cabinet’ and make sure everything is insured with sufficient limits for completing the case.

‘We can accommodate new business up to the day before and we’re open the weekend before 1 April to allow people to make their cases,’ he added.