In all claims for accident compensation for personal injury as a result of negligence or breach of duty of care or due to breach of statutory duty, the Claimant solicitor acting for the injured party, will send the Defendant a detailed letter of claim setting out: the circumstances of the accident; why the Claimant believes the Defendant is liable to the Claimant; and details of injury and damage caused as a result.
The Defendant then refers the matter to their public liability insurers or employee liability insurers, as the case may be.
There then follows a period of investigation and negotiation with the Claimant solicitors during which there's an exchange of information.
If this pre-action process goes well, the parties may reach early terms of settlement and in some cases the Defendant will make an early admission on responsibility (liability) for the accident.
The only issue then left to be resolved in the question of damages or compensation (quantum) that the Claimant ought to be entitled to recover along with any particularly losses incurred such as loss of earnings.
At a preliminary stage, not all evidence may come to light and as a result of further inquiry and evidence, the insurer may wish to resile on any earlier admission given.
Naturally, the Claimant's solicitors will want to rely on the earlier admission as evidence against the defendant and seek to obtain early judgment.
This has certainly happened to me on more than 1 more occasion and it's important that one understands the process involved since as you will discover, there is always the possibility of the Defendant being granted leave to withdraw its admission.
The court's procedure rules on this issue were changed as a result of a dichotomy existing between admission made prior to court proceedings being commenced and admissions made during court proceedings.
Generally speaking, court rules did not permit a withdrawal of admission in the latter but allowed in the former.
However, the rules were changed to give some uniformity so that today under Civil Procedure Rules, Part 14, an admission can now be withdrawn whether made before or during court proceedings.
But the court has given clear guidance within the relevant Practice Directions to Rule 14 as to the factors that it takes into consideration when deciding whether to permit a withdrawal of an admission or grant an early judgment to the Claimant based on that earlier admission.
Firstly, the admission must have been made in writing.
If the Claimant does not agree to the withdrawal of the admission, he will apply to the court for judgment and the Defendant in turn will cross-apply for withdrawal of the admission.
The court then considers both parties' arguments.
The Practice Direction 14 (PD 14), specifies the following factors to be taken into consideration:

1. The grounds upon which the Defendant wishes to seek withdrawal of its admission, including whether or not there's any new evidence not previously available when the admission was made;
2. The conduct of the parties;
3. The prejudice that may be caused to any party if the admission is withdrawn;
4. The stage of the proceedings in which the application is made to withdraw the admission;
5. The prospects of success of the claim if the admission is withdrawn;
6. The interest of the administration of justice.
   

It is noted in a recent Court of Appeal case that the fact that there is no new evidence or explanation upon which the Defendant sought to rely as grounds for withdrawal of their admission did not preclude them from successfully obtaining leave for its withdrawal.
The court has said in relation Rule 14 that it has a wide discretion in such cases and will seek to weigh up all the factors set out in PD 14 with the aim of seeking to balance the interests of the parties in order to achieve the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly.