In one of the few positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, claims in the motor injury sector have substantially reduced during the crisis. Yet, as the UK has moved out of a total lockdown (for now at least), the question is how has this been reflected in claims volume?
The Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) has revealed, following a Freedom of Information request, that motor injury claims for the period of July-September have slightly increased on the previous quarter but remain well below figures recorded for the same period in 2019.
Motor injury claims registered with the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) totalled nearly 105,000 in Q3 2020, an increase compared with 95,000 claims between April and June 2020. In Q3 2019, there were 169,000 motor claims, registering a year on year fall of almost 38%.
Executive director of ACSO, Matthew Maxwell Scott, said that the reduced claims compared to last year highlights that the impact of COVID on claims incidence has been sustained beyond the full lockdown that took place between March and May. The reduction in compensation for injury and vehicle repair costs is good news for insurers, he said, and he noted his hope that this will be reflected in reduced premiums for British motorists in the year ahead.
Commenting on the claims incidence for employer liability (EL), public liability (PL) and clinical negligence (CN), Maxwell Scott revealed that this was broadly similar to Q2 2020 but well down from last year.
“There has been very little increase in EL and PL claims since the lockdown, which may be because many people are still working from home,” he said. “It is early days but this could be the start of a very different claims environment for the UK, which is seeing a long-term contraction in injury claims from a peak of 1,048,000 annual claims in 2012/13 to 829,000 claims in 2019/20, a 21% reduction.”
Turning his attention to the government’s delayed whiplash reform programme, which is slated for implementation in April 2021, he said it is reasonable to question whether now is the right time to deliver radical change in the face of such volatility in the claims market and general environment, and when the new small claims portal is still facing many operational challenges.
“As we’ve previously stated, we broadly support the concept of the portal in improving efficiencies and streamlining the claims process, as long as we have the right consumer safeguards in place,” he said. “But the new minster will have some rapid decisions to make when they arrive at their desk, because there are still no rules and many fundamental safeguards remain unresolved. Moreover, the current backlog of cases in the civil justice system will only increase with an upsurge in litigants in person through the new regime.”
