tecumseh, I have to agree with your last point . I doubt any of them will have the courage to stick their heads above the parapet.
As to Acoustic's question, apologies for the length of this but I'll try to be as brief as possible.
The Civil Procedure Rules 1999, introduced a mechanism for settling cases - Part 36 offers. This allowed one party to make a "without prejudice" offer to settle a claim. If the offer is not accepted and the offeror does better than his offer when the case goes to court, the recipient of the offer will suffer from a reduction of the costs awarded by the court. If the recipient of the offer is a defendant there may also be an adverse effect in the interest awarded.
So you don't have to accept, but it could affect the award of costs by a court should the settlement awarded in court differ from the offer out of it.