First4Lawyers has made a bold assertion amid the delay in the release of the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal’s performance numbers from its first three months of use.
In a recent update to stakeholders, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) stated: “The MoJ has committed to publishing performance data and statistics related to the operation of the service. To ensure some data maturity and allow the service to settle, we decided not to publish data during the initial three months of operation.
“It remains our intention to publish data relating to the first quarter of operation of the Official Injury Claim service soon. However, given the recent change in Ministerial responsibilities, publication of data has had to be delayed by a few weeks and will likely now take place in October.”
On September 15, Dominic Raab was appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, replacing Robert Buckland. Raab now also serves as Deputy Prime Minister.
For First4Lawyers marketing head Andy Cullwick, a Ministerial change is not a valid reason for the abovementioned delay.
“The release of data should not be a political issue,” declared Cullwick in a statement sent to Insurance Business, “and certainly a change in ministers should make no difference whatsoever – what decision do they need to take? The obvious conclusion to draw is that the data does not paint a happy picture and the MoJ is playing for time before having to deliver the message that the Official Injury Claim portal just isn’t working.
“The primary issue is simply that it is way too difficult for most people to navigate on their own. OIC was built on the basis that injured people would not need a lawyer to use the system, but insurer data indicates that only around 10% of people are going it alone. So, on its fundamental metric, the portal is a bust.”
Read more: Whiplash reforms – key takeaways for brokers
Cullwick, however, believes that the delay is the least of claimants’ worries.
He said: “The other main problem is how so-called mixed claims – involving multiple injuries, some covered by the OIC tariff and others not – are dealt with. Everyone knew this would be a huge spanner in the works, but the MoJ has simply shrugged its shoulders and thrown it to the courts to decide at some point in the future.
“In the meantime, injured people are left in limbo and the delay in releasing the OIC data is the least of their problems.”
