MoJ lauds whiplash portal after 37% fall in claim numbers

The Ministry of Justice has strongly endorsed the new whiplash claims web portal after reporting a 37% drop in claim numbers.

An operational review of the first year of Official Injury Claim, which handles all RTA claims valued less than £25,000, reported that around 386,000 related claims were brought in the 12 months from 31 May 2021.

This was a fall of around 15% on the lockdown-affected previous year, and a drop of 25% from 2019/20, in which 611,000 claims were started through the claims portal.

The MoJ, which had made clear that reducing the number of claims was a priority, said the data showed that claimants continue to be able to access justice. Just 9% of claims – a proportion which has remained unchanged since the OIC was launched – were made by unrepresented claimants, despite the system being created with litigants in person at the forefront.

The MoJ’s analysis said its measures had ensured ‘greater claimant choice’ in how to proceed with a claim and being unrepresented was not an impediment to achieving a fair outcome.

The review added: ‘It remains the case, however, that the majority of these claims (91% in the first year) were brought with professional representation. This is not on its own an indicator of how well the service has worked, how easy it is to navigate or how the market has adapted. What is important is that claimants have been provided with options as to how to achieve a proportionate outcome, regardless of the choice they make.’

At the one-year point on 30 May 2022, the average time from a claim starting to settling was 142 days. Represented claims took longer, with an average of 164 days to settlement, compared with 81 days for unrepresented claims.

The number of claims exiting the service in the first 12 months was almost 25,000 and equated to 10% of total claims started on OIC. Reasons for exit included resolution by the courts, rejection of liability, claim withdrawn by the claimant or claim removed by the compensator (on a range of legitimate grounds). The MoJ said the number entering the court system was low, although this is increasing as the system beds in. It also expects there to be an increase in claims and settlements following clarification from the courts on the valuation of mixed injury claims and related issues. 

Although the review was about operational performance rather than the system itself, the review said that claims had progress with no major technical issues causing delays or backlogs, although some have required action.

‘As with any new digital service, integrating a large number of different professional users of varying sizes via an application programming interface (API) will result in a need for bug fixes and technical enhancements,’ it added.

Assessing the report, justice minister Lord Bellamy KC said the portal had already helped resolve more than 28,000 claims – totalling around £80m – and the number of people using it continues to rise each month.

He added: ‘This modern, user-friendly service has made making a claim simpler, without the need for unnecessary litigation, while also curbing bogus claims which drive up insurance premiums for ordinary motorists. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that it works for all.'

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