Ministry of Justice announces 897 companies have been granted licences to offer deals on mis-sold insurance

The lawyers, accountants and businessmen behind the mushrooming PPI claims industry stand to take at least £1bn, and possibly £2bn, of the £8bn in compensation expected to be paid out by banks and credit card companies to individuals mis-sold insurance. The Ministry of Justice said that a total of 897 firms have now been granted licences to offer PPI compensation services, and some of the leading companies in the sector are already enjoying huge fees. Last year Gladstone Brookes obtained £108m in PPI compensation from the banks on behalf of its customers. It charges 25% ( plus VAT) of anything received by clients, which suggests it is likely to have taken at least £25m as its share. Many of the lawyers behind the new PPI claims management companies are veterans of previous compensation sagas, from which they have pocketed millions of pounds. One of the directors of Warrington-based Gladstone Brookes is 35-year-old Anthony Chorlton. In 2006 he was named by The Lawyer magazine as one of two equity partners in Avalon Solicitors, also based in Warrington, which in 2005-06 brought in £21.2m in fees and made a net profit of £15.5m – a margin of 73%. It is understood that Chorlton's partner, Andrew Nulty, took around £13m, while Chorlton himself earned around £2.5m, dwarfing most lawyers in the UK's top 100 firms that year.....Read more here--: PPI compensation fees could hit £2bn | Money | The Guardian