EWJ June 2024 web - Journal - Page 16
Period
No of claim settlements
recorded (can refer to
claims submitted in
previous periods)
Percentage of
claims which involve
‘mixed injuries’
436
61%
45.2
1 September
68,359
3-November
2021 3 Nov 2021
3,468
65%
83
1 December
95,266
2021–31 March
2022
13,843
64%
139
1 April-30
June 2022
70,718
16,994
66.7%
175
1 July-30
September
2022
71,191
19,921
67.3%
208
1 October31 December
73,385
22,630
67.8%
227
1 January76,590
31 March 2023
26,578
66.3%
238
20221 January 66,741
-31 March 2023
26,997
67.1%
251
31 May-31
August 2021
No of claims
submitted via OIC
45,718
Average number
of days from
claim to settlement
Source: Data extracted from OIC Claims Data quarterly reporting period statistics: 31 May 2021–30 June 2023
accessible and easy to use system for everyone—with
or without a lawyer—which reflects the Government’s
commitment to access to justice for all”. Prior to the
whiplash reforms, less than 1% of claimants did not
have legal representation. The Government’s impact
assessment for the Civil Liability Act 2018, based on
consultation with the industry, estimated that this
could increase to 30% post-implementation. However,
as noted above, the overwhelming majority of
claimants using the OIC portal continue to do so with
professional representation—approximately 90%. Indeed, Carpenters Group, providers of insurance and
legal services in the UK, told us the true litigant in person (LiP) figure was likely to be actually closer to 3%
because the MoJ’s figures included claimants who
were assisted in using the OIC portal by the at-fault
insurer, and therefore were not truly acting as a LiP.
This view was also supported in the written evidence
we received from DWF Law LLP.
The Association of Consumer Support Organisations
(ACSO), whose members support consumers making
personal injury claims, told us:
The proportion of LiPs appears to have stabilised at
just below 10%, although many of these may be being
assisted in the background by the compensating insurer, potentially exposing them to partial advice.
Given the OIC was designed to be used by LiPs and to
remove the need for lawyers, this is a policy failure.13
Elsewhere, the Motor Accident Solicitors Society
(MASS) told us:
Since day one it was argued that RTA claims are simple and straightforward, and that lawyers were simply an unnecessary cost in most cases. The reality is
that even low-value claims often involve a degree of
complex legal arguments and medical uncertainties.
We believe that a significant reason why 90+% of
claimants continue to use legal representation is at
least partly down to the complexity of the system.
To support claimants using the OIC, a ‘help hub’ has
been created on the MoJ website which includes a 64page guide entitled ‘Guide to making a claim’. In its
written submission, the Law Society of England and
Wales told us:
By their nature, personal injury claims and the complexity in attempting to value them has led to most
claimants having to seek representation. The 64-page
guidance document that accompanied the roll out of
the portal shows the level of knowledge that is needed
to make a claim. Coupled with that fact that an unrepresented party is suffering a (likely painful) injury
while attempting to seek redress, makes it unsurprising that expertise is being sought, even if it means a
claimant being out of pocket as a result of that.
Several submissions highlighted the low proportion of
unrepresented claimants using the OIC portal to date
as reflecting both the complexity of the process for
claimants attempting to navigate it by themselves and
a lack of awareness of the new process. Thompsons
Solicitors, the largest trade union and personal injury
law firm in the UK, stated:
Access is being denied to tens of thousands of injured
people with legitimate claims due to an understandable lack of knowledge, experience, technical ability
or time to enable them to bring a claim themselves
without representation. The fact that more than 90%
of OIC claimants are represented demonstrates that
the new system, which was supposed to be used by unrepresented claimants, has failed.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
14
JUNE 2024