Government proposals for Personal Injury reform will see claimants lose out

It was back in 2009 when The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Jackson embarked upon a review into the cost of personal injury claims. It has often been cited that the cost of injury cases has spiralled out of control and a full overhaul of the system is needed.

His report has been hailed by the insurance industry as a brilliant body of work, accomplished and displaying deep knowledge of it’s subject matter. However many claimant lawyers fear that implementation of the report into legislation would bring about a system which will rob injured claimants of up to 50% of their compensation. The British legal system has often been referred to as the envy of the world with the simple maxim “justice for all” being the proud beacon of a just society; now it seems prone to erosion from the insurance company shareholders lobby and their bottom line concerns.

The report makes recommendations that general damages (the amount of money awarded to an injured party) be increased by 10% but at the same time states that a claimant should pay a proportion of their own lawyers fee (up to 25%). In addition if a claimant loses a case they should be made to pay medical report fees and court costs.

The fear for most claimant lawyers relates to the potential risk many would face if  the proposals were implemented would be enough to dissuade them from seeking redress for their injuries. With this reduced level of litigation it is predicted that we may experience a renaissance of dangerous and hazardous environments such as within the workplace.

Despite the positive feedback the majority of the insurance industry has given to Jackson's report, some within the industry have made some alarming comments about the findings. Aviva, one of the UK's leading insurers, who had an operating profit of £3.48bn last year ran a financial test using the new costings outlined in the Jackson report.  Their director of technical claims, Mr Dominic Clayden told a recent conference that “.... civil litigation costs under the proposed system would increase, rather than fall as intended.....extra costs would have to be passed on to all policyholders in the form of higher premiums”.

Claimability is committed to protecting the interests of claimants and works with our panel solicitors and other bodies in lobbying our government to protect the right of injured people to seek compensation, to ensure that financial windfalls to shareholders are not considered more important than an access to justice for all. We always work within a system that offers good value for money and does not set insurance premiums soaring ever higher.