The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation into its proposals to make major changes to personal injury claims. The proposals include:
- Stopping or reducing compensation for whiplash injuries
- Increasing the small claims limit for personal injury claims from £1,000 to £5,000
- Introducing a fixed tariff for all injuries depending on their duration
- Making it compulsory to obtain medical evidence before settling any claim.
The Government claims that these proposals will reduce the number of low value and fraudulent claims, and that insurers will reduce motor premiums as a result. However, the Government has accepted that it cannot require insurers to reduce premiums, so whether this will happen remains to be seen.
Comment
While the proposal to make medical evidence compulsory has been widely welcomed by the legal profession, many are concerned about the impact the other proposals will have on access to justice for injured people.
The proposals would effectively remove legal representation for thousands of people injured in minor road traffic accidents. While the Government states that these are not complex enough for claimants to require legal representation, many fear that the result will be numerous claimants representing themselves at Court, potentially up against opponents, such as insurance companies who can afford legal representation.
The Law Society has stated that the plans:
“will completely undermine the right of ordinary people to receive full and proper compensation… People may be tempted to try to bring claims themselves without expert advice.”
You can read more about the proposals and their potential impact for claimants in our previous blogs on the proposals, the claims procedure, costs and ‘What you might not know about personal injury claims‘.
The consultation closes on 6th January 2017 and is available here.
For more information, please contact Helen Froggatt on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.