Work has begun on a third UK Bodily Injury Awards Study, following a decision by the International Underwriting Association (IUA) to commission further research.
The new study is expected to be on a bigger scale than the 1999 study, which was by far the largest exercise of its kind ever conducted in the UK.
The report will investigate trends in bodily injury awards, the legal factors behind them and the effectiveness of rehabilitation in the claims process.
Among the issues under consideration will be the level of bodily injury awards and whether or not there has been any let up in the rise of claims costs.
The previous study, published jointly by the IUA and the Association of British Insurers (ABI), found claims escalation to be running at around 13%.
This was due to two main factors: claims had become more frequent, despite a reduction in the number of motor accidents, and the size of awards had risen faster than the rate of inflation.
Mike Brockman of EMB, which will be conducting the actuarial research, said: "This is a most ambitious project.
"Apart from the overall level of claims escalation, we aim to provide a detailed analysis of inflationary trends by size of claim, uncertainty margins in run-off, the impact of escalating legal costs, settlement patterns and a range of other matters of interest.
"We are confident that the insurance industry will support this exercise with enthusiasm, as with the previous two studies."
The bodily injury awards working party is being chaired by Ted Jaggers, senior manager at Munich Re. The findings are expected to be published in the first quarter of next year.
