With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to have a huge impact on all areas of life in the UK, recent figures collated from the government's Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) by the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) have highlighted the impact that lockdown restrictions and the forced changes in lifestyles have had on personal injury claim volumes.
Throughout 2020, the CRU statistics show an overall drop in injury claims made of almost half (47%), representing a huge reduction in numbers from 844,000 in 2019 down to 446,000 last year. This drop includes motor (including cyclists and pedestrians), employers liability (injuries from accidents at work), public liability (accidents in a public place) and hospital clinical negligence claims. The final 3 months of 2020 also saw 50,000 fewer claims overall compared to 2019, down to 171,000 in total.
As lockdown restrictions and working from home rapidly became the norm last year, the subsequent reductions in the levels of traffic on the roads saw motor injury compensation claims fall by 23% to just over 139,000 claims.
Work Injury Claims
Changes in working habits due to Covid-19 have also impacted the volume of workplace injury claims made. Such claims, which generally fall under the insurance category of employers liability (EL), fell by over 59% year on year as more people were able to work from home, were not working whilst on the furlough scheme or unfortunately found themselves without a job.
Commenting on these numbers, ACSO executive director Matthew Maxwell Scott said:
“The picture that emerges from last year is of a hugely significant fall in all personal injury claims. Covid has achieved over 12 months what the government set out to do with its compensation reform programme.”
In discussing the motor insurers many vaunted assertions that every policyholder will see a reduction in premiums due to falling injury claim volumes, Maxwell Scott added:
“(There is) no reason at all why consumers should not get their promised £35 reduction in motor insurance premiums now…the ABI (Association of British Insurers) estimates that the average bodily injury claim pay-out is £10,000, so broadly speaking motor insurers have collectively saved £29bn in 2020 from a near 50% reduction in motor injury claims alone”
Maxwell Scott also urged the government to delay the forthcoming reforms to employers liability and public liability claims as a result of the greatly reduced number of claims last year, explaining:
“We argue that ministers should await the outcome of the first tranche of reforms and have an eye to longer-term reductions in claims incidence before ploughing ahead with planned changes to EL and PL, especially given the continuing pandemic and the chaos it is causing in civil justice”
Injury Claims Advice
At Bakers we pride ourselves on our experience and success in representing claimants who have been injured through no fault of their own, helping them to receive compensation that they are properly entitled to. Our professional, friendly team will give you an honest, free and ‘plain English’ appraisal of your claim and we love to delight our clients when they receive the injury compensation they deserve.
If you would like us to handle your personal injury compensation claim, you can contact us online or by phone on 01252 744600 Read about some of our compensation claim success stories or key stages to making a claim.