THE scandal surrounding the Government’s £7.5 billion compensation scheme for sick miners deepened yesterday when it emerged that a third firm of solicitors has financial links to a company that is under criminal investigation.

Detectives were already looking at payments by two law firms to Indiclaim Ltd, a company owned by Clare Walker, a senior employee of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers. It has now been revealed that a third firm, Chesterfield-based BRM Solicitors, agreed to pay money to Indiclaim for every UDM case that it settled.

Miss Walker, 41, earned £260,000 last year for a 20-hour week as head of claims at Vendside, a company owned by the union and set up to handle claims for what has become the world’s largest personal injury compensation scheme.

Since 1999, UDM/Vendside has earned £19 million by settling thousands of claims in-house under a special agreement that the union signed with the Department of Trade and Industry. The union has also passed on more than 16,000 claims to a select group of solicitors’ firms, which have been paid £25 million by the DTI for settling UDM cases.

Miss Walker, who used to work for the company that polices coal health claims on behalf of the Government, is the sole owner of Indiclaim, a company said to provide training in risk assessment and “claims handling best practice” to law firms pursuing industrial injury cases. The UDM has repeatedly insisted that Indiclaim has no connection to the union, Vendside or any individual UDM claimants and that no fee is levied by Indiclaim for any particular claim.

The Times has already revealed that two solicitors’ firms that were handed claims by the union, the Doncaster-based Beresfords and Sheffield solicitors Wake Smith, made payments to Miss Walker’s company, which they directly linked to the settling of UDM cases.

It has now emerged that BRM Solicitors, which has registered more than 5,000 claims for miners suffering from chronic lung disease, also agreed to make payments to Indiclaim.

The Times has seen a letter sent last year by BRM to one of its clients, which states: “You will recall that the UDM requested that we acted for you in dealing with your [respiratory disease] claim.”

It continues: “The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention that we have agreed to pay an administrative fee ... of £500 plus VAT to a marketing and claims handling company, Indiclaim Ltd, in respect of each successful case.

“This is because they have provided us with a great deal of administrative support in respect of the scheme generally and your own case.”

South Yorkshire Police’s economic crime unit, already investigating the financial relationship between Beresfords, Wake Smith and Indiclaim, have been informed of the letter.

Detectives want to establish whether solicitors’ payments linked to the settling of UDM claims were used for the benefit of the union’s members. Miss Walker and Mick Stevens, the UDM’s vice president, have stood down pending the outcome of the inquiry. Each denies any wrongdoing.

Last night, BRM issued a statement in which the firm confirmed that it had been making payments to Miss Walker’s company and stated that this arrangement was made “under the instruction of the UDM”.

BRM said that all its payments to Indiclaim had been suspended, pending the outcome of the inquiry, although it insisted that they were part of “a perfectly proper commercial agreement”. The firm stressed that “the payment of the referral fee [to Indiclaim] has absolutely no impact upon any individual client as it is funded entirely at our own expense”.

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