A year until new reforms in Personal Injury cases. What does this mean?

Recently the Civil Liability Bill has been passed through the House of Lords. This legislation is likely to be implemented in April 2020. The legislation will see an increase in the “small claims limit” and a tariff system be introduced for Road Traffic Accident claims.

For Road Traffic Accident claims the small claims limit will be raised from £1000.00 to £5000.00 and for all other Personal Injury cases it will be raised from £1000.00 to £2000.00. It is also said that the value of whiplash/soft tissue injuries will be heavily reduced when the legislation is formalised in due course. It is likely that these reforms will be implemented in 2020. Not only will the reforms affect injured Claimants in terms of damages but seeking legal representation may also be difficult for them because for these types of cases legal costs will no longer be recoverable.

It is also likely that following the proposed changes that a lot of Personal Injury Solicitors firms will no longer accept and take on whiplash/soft tissue injury cases. Not only will this lead to Personal Injury firms closing down it is therefore likely that injured Claimants will have to progress their damages claims against major insurance companies themselves. As someone who deals with major insurance companies on a day to day basis, this is certainly a difficult and unenviable task for someone who does not know your back pain relief and how the Personal Injury claims process works.

The major insurance companies say that these reforms will lead to Motor Insurance premiums being reduced but this remains to be seen.