The government will this week set out tougher measures in a bid to cut the number of whiplash claims.
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke and transport secretary Justine Greening will jointly outline plans to reform the diagnosis procedure. In a statement to be made on Wednesday, the government is expected to announce an accreditation system for doctors who assess whiplash claims. There are also likely to be tougher regulations on out-of-court settlements and insurers will be encouraged to challenge claims they believe to be fraudulent.
Reform of the whiplash claims system has been imminent since the start of this year, when prime minister David Cameron described Britain as the ‘whiplash capital of Europe’.
The Sunday Times quoted Clarke as saying it was ‘scandalous’ to have a system in place where it was cheaper for insurers to settle ‘spurious’ claims than defend them.
The government’s proposals are likely to find favour with the insurance industry, which 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 into the cost of motor insurance concluded that the rise in personal injury claims was the ‘main reason for the rise in premiums’.
The report said insurers should require fuller diagnosis of whiplash injuries to prove a claim is valid, and that legal expenses should be cut to encourage insurers to defend claims.
If there was not a significant fall in whiplash claims, the report said, primary legislation would be necessary to require objective evidence of an injury, or the injury having a significant effect on the claimant’s life, before compensation was paid.
source: lawgazette.co.uk
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