Ministry of Justice has “foot on the brake”: ABI’s Dalton

James Dalton Assistant director of motor and liability, ABI

The ABI has urged the government to publish its delayed consultation on tackling the UK’s whiplash epidemic.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on proposals to increase the small claims limit for personal injury claims and introduce more independent medical experts to assess whiplash claims.

However, no document has been published by the Ministry of Justice, partly because of the government reshuffle earlier this year that ousted former justice minister Ken Clarke and replaced him with Chris Grayling.

The ABI said that for every week the government delays publishing the document, more than 10,000 whiplash claims are made, leading to unnecessarily high motor premiums.

Speaking at the Motor Accident Solicitors Society’s annual conference, ABI head of motor insurance James Dalton said: “For too many people a car crash automatically means a whiplash claim. Government reforms will tackle the ‘have a go’ compensation culture.

“But when it comes to whiplash, the Ministry of Justice has had its foot on the brake for too long and it is time to get on with consulting if we are to help genuine whiplash claimants and drive the whiplash cheats from our roads.”