Personal Injury: move to £2,500 would be a disincentive to bring valid cases, claim lawyers

Claimant personal injury solicitors have this week slated proposals from the influential parliamentary constitutional affairs select committee that the financial threshold for small claims should be raised from £1,000 to £2,500.


Although it recommended watering down recommendations from the Better Regulation Task Force - which last year proposed a £5,000 limit for both personal injury and housing disrepair claims - the committee said retaining the current £1,000 level was not an option, as it had not been adjusted for years.


But the committee added: 'Evidence suggests that raising the limit to £5,000, as suggested by the task force, would mean that the majority of personal injuries claims would fall into the small-claims system, which could be a disadvantage to claimants in more complex cases, who would have to act without a lawyer.'


Committee chairman Alan Beith said: 'The small-claims system is an absolutely essential part of giving ordinary people, who can't necessarily risk getting involved in a case with huge legal fees, access to justice and a means of redress.'


However, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers argued that personal injury cases had no place in the small claims court and expressed 'deep disappointment' at the committee's conclusion, saying it would be a disincentive to bring valid cases.


'We maintain that it is much more difficult to value a whiplash injury than a technical claim for defective goods,' a spokeswoman said. 'Personal injury claims involve complex evidence, which almost always demand legal guidance, and the costs system of the small-claims procedure does not provide for this facility.'


Law Society President Kevin Martin said it recognised that legal costs should not be disproportionate and that procedures needed simplification. But he warned: 'If the small- claims limit was increased to £2,500 without allowing claimants to recover their costs, the result would be that many people in accidents which were someone else's fault would be deprived of the compensation to which they are entitled.'



But Dominic Clayden, head of technical claims - legal at insurer Norwich Union, expressed disappointment that the committee did not go to £5,000. He was also concerned that if the limit were lifted to £2,500, claimant solicitors might seek to increase their claims to have them dealt with on the fast-track, where they would recover costs.