We reported in last week’s edition of BC Disease News that the long-awaited consultation on raising the small claims limit and removing general damages for low-value soft-tissue injuries has been delayed, it seems, indefinitely. However, this week it has been reported that a group of Conservative MPs will next week lobby the justice secretary, Elizabeth Truss, to follow through with the proposed personal injury reforms. The group of 10 backbench MPs are eager to point out that this is a delay rather than a cancellation and are due to meet with Ms Truss early next week. [i]
Elsewhere, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) Motor Conference was held this week in which former Labour justice secretary, Lord Falconer, was a guest speaker. He said few people in Parliament were focused on personal injury reform given Brexit, and predicted that Truss would be similarly distracted from the issue. Instead he said, that insurers should focus on investing in fraud detection and taking legal action against those that commit fraud.
The ABI published its report ‘Lifting the Bonnet on Car Insurance’ this week, which sets out what motor insurance premiums pay for. The report highlights that bodily injury claims make up 37% of insurers’ costs despite accounting for only 9% of total motor claims. Given these figures, it is likely that insurers will continue to lobby for the reforms with the ABI putting them at the top of its list of five action points it set to ensure a ‘fairer deal for honest customers’. The full report and the ABI’s five action points can be found here.
[i] Neil Rose, ‘Tory MPs Lobby Truss To Get On With Whiplash Reform’ (Legal Futures 19 October 2016)< http://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/tory-mps-lobby-truss-get-whiplash-reform> accessed 20 October 2016.