Claims director says the implementation of the Official Injury Claim portal is ‘an important first step’, indicating that the government seeks to combat ‘compensation culture’
Ahead of the implementation of the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal on 31 May, Aviva’s claims director Andrew Morrish has warned that the insurance sector needs “to keep an eye on the intent of the reforms to be sure they’re achieved”.
Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Morrish explained that the Civil Liability Act 2018, colloquially known as the whiplash reforms, demonstrated a recognition from government “to tackle the problem” of a “compensation culture” around whiplash injuries in personal injury claims.
“There is a really strong opinion that something [needed] to be done around compensation culture and whiplash generated just so much noise and difficulty and all of the side effect problems that go with it,” he said.
“We know [the] government wanted to face into that, so that’s brilliant. Now, have they gone far enough with the whiplash reforms? Time will tell.”
Taking the first step
Morrish added that part one of the reforms – which includes the OIC portal and a corresponding tariff table determining compensation awards for whiplash injuries – is “an important first step” in remedying bad behaviour around whiplash-related claims.
“Even if [the OIC portal is] not comprehensive on day one, it sets out a framework and it sets out an attitude of government, which is recognising that this is a problem that needs to be fixed,” he said.
However, “the worry we’ve got is in the narrow definition of whiplash and whether the issues that we’ve seen with whiplash will move to bruised knees or something on soft tissue, [which becomes] the same challenge whiplash has been,” Morrish continued.
“[We just] need to keep an eye on the intent of the reforms to be sure they’re achieved and not just keep narrowing it down to whiplash.”
‘Better than it was’
When asked about the operational challenges of implementing the government’s reforms, Morrish said this was not Aviva’s “biggest concern”.
“This is not new news. We all knew this was coming. We didn’t have the final details of the rules, but it’s great that they’re happening. It’s a shame they were delayed,” he said.
“We’re pleased the government has stuck to what [it] committed to and we now all need to get on with it, knowing that it’s not going to be perfect on day one, but it’ll be better than it was.”
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