Clarke to announce tougher measures for Whiplash Claims on 2nd May 2012
Industry News : 30 April 2012
The number of whiplash claims is hoping to see a decline following tougher measures which are due to be set out by the Government this week.
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke and transport secretary Justine Greening will jointly outline plans to renovate the current procedure in which a diagnosis is made. It is believed that the Government will announce an accreditation system for doctors who assess whiplash claims in a statement to be made on Wednesday. There are also likely to be tougher regulations on out-of-court settlements and insurers will be encouraged to challenge the claims which they believe to be fraudulent.
Reform of the whiplash claims system has been imminent since thebeginning of this year, when Britian was described as the ‘whiplash capital of Europe’ by prime minister David Cameron.
Clarke was quoted in The Sunday Times as saying it was ‘scandalous’ to have a current system where it was cheaper for insurers to settle ‘spurious’ claims than defend them.
The insurance industry will likely support the government’s proposals , having previously called for objective evidence to be produced to prove a whiplash claim, in addition to the claimant’s GP’s diagnosis. A report by the Commons Transport Committee in January concluded that the rise in personal injury claims was the ‘main reason for the rise in premiums’.
The report said that in order to prove the validity of a claim, insurers should require a coherent diagnosis of whiplash injuries and legal expenses should be reduced to encourage insurers to defend claims. In addition, the report stated that if there was not a significant fall in whiplash claims, primary legislation would be necessary to prove that there had been an injury, or that the injury was having a significant effect on the claimant’s life, before compensation was paid