Our Director of General Insurance Policy, James Dalton, writes about how the launch of the Official Injury Claims Portal on 31 May is a watershed moment in the much-needed reform of the UK’s civil justice system. Two years in the building, it is a big win for consumers, giving them a free, independent service to claim compensation for certain road traffic injuries without the need for legal help.
Perseverance can pay off.
The launch of the Official Injury Claims Portal on 31 May, marks a watershed moment in the much-needed reform of the UK’s civil justice system.
The Portal has been two years in the building, and represents a big win for consumers, giving them a free, independent service to claim compensation for certain road traffic injuries without the need for legal help.
The Portal will:
- Provide a simpler claims system, where for road traffic personal injury claims legal advice is only paid for over the Small Claims Track (SCT) limit of £5,000. We have long supported an increase in the SCT limit from £1,000 to £5,000 and have worked with cross-industry stakeholders and Government to bring this forward.
- Introduce an online platform that will be easily accessible and designed for claimants to use without the need for legal representation. The Portal will be inclusive and there will be provision for claimants to file a claim through a customer contact centre or submit a paper-based form where necessary.
- Provide claimants with a tariff of payments for whiplash compensation according to the duration of their injury of up to two years, as well as a tariff for whiplash and minor psychological injury.
Safeguards will ensure access to justice is maintained. The Portal Support Centre, which will give offline support to accessing the service, a paper-based process, and translation services if needed should give claimants the support and reassurance to use the system.
Over more than a decade, the ABI has been at the forefront of calling for meaningful reforms to the civil litigation process, with a relentless focus on driving down unnecessary costs and ensuring that genuinely injured claimants receive proportionate compensation.
The road to reform has been long, arduous, and at times challenging, and includes:
Over more than a decade, the ABI has been at the forefront of calling for meaningful reforms to the civil litigation process, with a relentless focus on driving down unnecessary costs
In 2012:
- The Ministry of Justice consulted on reducing the number and costs of whiplash claims
- Also, in that year, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 brought about more proportionate legal costs, and the banning of referral fees
In 2015:
- Medco was established to oversee fixed cost medical reports for soft tissue injury claims
In 2017:
- The Prisons and Courts Bill capped whiplash compensation payouts and proposed a ban on settling whiplash claims without a medical assessment.
These measures were ultimately enacted in the Civil Liability Act in 2018
There have been many milestones and even more false dawns in bringing about these long overdue reforms. The story is not yet complete - we have more work to do and we continue to make the case for further improvements to the civil justice system and wider claims environment, including in relation to mixed injuries, credit hire, rehabilitation and a review of how the Personal Injury Discount Rate is set.
But, compared to where we were a decade ago, the system we have in place now, with the Official Injury Claims Portal about to go live, is a huge improvement on where we have come from, which ultimately benefits consumers.