We are now 3 years on from the introduction of the whiplash reforms, the reforms brought in to reduce the cost of motor insurance.  Back in 2018 when the initial Civil Liability Bill made its way through parliament the aims were that;  

“The government is bringing forward a new reform programme to tackle the high number and cost of personal injury claims, and in particular RTA related soft tissue injury claims, the vast majority of which are whiplash claims……” and that “The Civil Liability Act…will reduce the number and cost of compensation for claims for whiplash injuries…” 

One of the unintended consequences it would seem of the reforms is a rise in injuries reported other than just whiplash. Now 2/3 of claims received in to the Official Injury Claims Portal (OICP) are for whiplash plus additional ‘non whiplash’ injury. Often the additional injury will be for soft tissue injuries such as banging knees, elbows, wrists or heads on the inside of a vehicle. We are also seeing a rise in claims for conditions such as tinnitus and an increase in the claimed level of psychiatric damage a minor collision is said to have caused.  

One of the potential reasons for the rise in additional non whiplash related injuries is that only the award for the whiplash element of the claim is controlled by the tariff introduced with the reforms. The tariff dramatically decreases the level of awards previously seen for such injuries and was a key measure brought in to reduce the cost of low value injury claims. However with 2/3 of claims now being brought with additional injuries not caught by the tariff, settlement awards will continue to rise where the claimant can show that the additional injury was indeed caused by the collision.  

This growth in the presentation of additional injuries also adds to the pressure around controlling costs around elements of the claim outside of any award for the injury itself, expensive medical reports and treatment costs are being seen. 

We are now overdue the Lord Chancellor’s report following the review of the whiplash tariff, due to the General Election being called for early July and the dissolution of Parliament that followed. It is now unknown to what extent any recommendations made in the report will be implemented or indeed whether a change in policy follows if there is a change in Government post-election.  

In terms of overall claims presented, the release of the official statistics registered with the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) in May, shows a decrease in motor injury claims of 5% for the year, and a 55% reduction from the number of claims registered a decade ago.  The Government may well point to this reduction over time as an indication the raft of reforms brought in within this time have been successful. However the reforms have certainly driven behaviours in the market not seen prior to their implementation, creating therefore a ‘balloon effect’ which has impacted on the overall aims the reforms were set out to achieve.