Claims service provider handl Group has introduced a new full-service proposition, which will help insurers respond to the government’s recent reforms to the personal injury claims system.
The offering, known as handl Engage, will help insurers manage changing customer requirements, following the launch of the government’s minor injury claims portal (Official Injury Claim or OIC), according to a statement from the company.
Engage provides various services, namely claims handling (Coplus), accident management (Cobalt) credit hire (Cogent Hire), rehabilitation (Corporé), medical reporting (Speed Medical) and ADR arbitration (Claimspace).
Data from handl Group showed a drop of around 20% in the number of personal injury claims accessing the portal for the first half of June. According to handl, this is likely due to claimant firms having difficulty accessing or adjusting to the new portal on the Proclaim platform. However, handl Group chief commercial officer Chris Chatterton said that claims were beginning to “creep up again.”
Chatterton also said that handl’s clients are reporting an increase in the number of mixed or hybrid injury claims submitted, as well as mixed evidence on liability. Some insurers, he added, accept liability immediately, while others are in no rush to accept liability, which could be due to their processes not yet being fully up and running.
“Although the reforms have been in the offing for over five years, the MoJ only published the guidelines and protocols for the new portal a matter of weeks before launch, giving insurers very little time to prepare,” Chatterton said, adding that the reforms and the pandemic ended up compressing what he believes to be five years of change into one year.
“Our suite of businesses working together under our handl Engage brand provides insurers a complete claims solution that reduces the risk of fraud and enables insurers to better manage their reserving,” he said.
“Our Engage technology also helps achieve the industry’s and the government’s aim of reducing unmeritorious injury claims.”
