15 titles back scheme by independent watchdog

THE country’s best-selling newspapers have signed up to the compulsory arbitration scheme to be launched by the independent press regulator Ipso.

It will include seven of the biggest daily papers and eight Sunday and weekly titles, the Independent Press Standards Organisation said.

The scheme is designed so that anyone can take action against a national newspaper without running up a hefty legal bill.

From July, no newspaper that is part of the system will be able to refuse to go to arbitration on any genuine claim. The maximum fee for launching a claim will be £100. Newspapers which have joined the scheme include the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, Metro, the Sun, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the Times and Sunday Times, the Daily and Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the Daily and Sunday Mirror, and the Sunday People.

Ipso chief executive Matt Tee said: ‘The compulsory arbitration scheme will cover the biggest national newspaper titles in the UK.

‘Anyone who has a valid claim against them can make it through the Ipso scheme for a maximum cost of £100, and the newspaper has no choice but to arbitrate.’