PI industry targets standards

A cross-section of players in the personal injury market this week launched a series of initiatives aimed at improving standards and consumer confidence in the industry - while the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has called on the government to take control of the situation.

The Law Society is forming a working party with the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and other organisations, including insurers, after research found that around two-thirds of consumers are uncomfortable with 'hard sell' techniques and cynical about of big pay-outs promised by personal injuries claims companies.

The survey of more than 2,000 people, by the Law Society-endorsed claims management company Accident Line, discovered that the first port of call for 42% of respondents if they suffered a personal injury would be a lawyer they had used previously.

This was followed by 18% who would trust the word of a friend or a referral from their doctor.

Media coverage would sway less than 5% of respondents.

The survey also showed strong dislike of cold-calling, endorsing the line of the Law Society and APIL which was last week accepted by the Office of Fair Trading (see page 11).

Law Society President David McIntosh said the working party would aim to produce agreed service standards for the whole market.

'I hope that this will lead to a better service for everyone who needs to pursue a genuine claim for compensation,' he added.

But APIL chief executive Denise Kitchener said she would be writing to the Lord Chancellor's Department to ask for a government committee to examine the issue.

'We support anything aimed at improving information for the consumer, but what we really want to see is a system of full statutory regulation,' she explained.

The working party came in the same week that two other projects were launched to improve standards.

Accident Line produced a 12-point standards charter laying out minimum levels of service for clients making claims, while claims management companies joined to back their own Personal Injury Association aimed at establishing a code of conduct for the industry.

Compensation Helpline, Industrial Disease Compensation and Accident Assurance are the first to link up, but others will be invited to join.

Paula Rohan