Tighter timescales and lower legal costs as online claims facility goes into operation

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From today, the road traffic accident portal will be extended to include public liability (PL) and employers’ liability (EL) claims of up to £25,000. In addition, the timeframe for insurers to admit or dispute liability will be slashed, from 90 to 30 days for EL and from 90 to 40 days for PL.

There should also be a significant reduction in legal costs. Claims that stay within the portal will now stay within a new two-level fixed-cost scale: £900 for claims between £1,000 and £10,000; and £1,600 for claims of £10,000-£25,000.

Weightmans director of solving disputes Rob Williams said: “1 August marks the start of the new world for claims in the volume space. Despite shoe-horning the new rules and process into this ambitious start date, there is consensus that the old world had to change.

Cost benefit angle

“Managing costs for low-value personal injury claims under the extended protocol will become crucial. Lawyers and insurers will have already started to get to grips with this, in measuring the cost-benefit angles of a case against the legal nuances of a particular case, and the need to maintain a robust shield against unmeritorious claims to prevent spikes in claims frequency.

“The message could not be clearer – the rules are less flexible. It boils down to cracking down on excess costs and speeding up the claims process. Those who adapt quickly to the change will be the ones who benefit from it first.”

However, Ministry of Justice proposals to raise the small claims track limit from £1,000 to £5,000 for RTA personal injury claims are being resisted by MPs on the transport select committee. They say an increase in the limit will encourage fraudulent and exaggerated claims.