Third-party injury claims up 5% last year

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has reported a “significant increase” in the number of bodily injury claims registered in 2010 and 2011, suggesting a rise in claims farming.

Its report, which analysed data from across the motor insurance industry, found bodily injury claims were up 5% last year, with 90% of claims for small whiplash-like injuries.

But while claims for injury were up 5%, there was an 11% drop in the number of claims made for damage to cars.

“You would expect that someone who was injured also had a damaged car. However, what the report has shown is that injury figures are higher than damage figures,” a spokeswoman said.

Ninety percent of the third-party injury claims made last year were for less than £20,000, with the average claim figurebeing £9,512.

“The proportion of claims for insured accidents involving bodily injury is higher in the UK than in the US, which is generally considered the most litigious jurisdiction. Recently the Transport Select Committee suggested that the UK was the whiplash capital of the world, and it may well have a point,” said David Brown, one of the authors of the report.