Changes to the handling of certain bodily injury claims in England & Wales
The following information is aimed at all Members against whom bodily injury claims might be brought in England and Wales. If you fall into this category please read the following briefing and if you are not clear please call Robert Kempkens or Helen Arabanos at TT Club.
Recent reforms in England and Wales have changed the way certain bodily injury claims are handled. Under the reform an online injury claims portal has been established to report and manage specific liability injury claims. This online system speeds up the claims process, as well as reducing claimant costs significantly. The Club is in the process of registering for the portal.
As a result of the reforms it is now very important that all bodily injury claims are notified to the Club as soon as possible and that requests for information from the Club 's claims handlers are given a high priority. The portal imposes a very tight timetable on claims handling and it is essential that all documentation is provided to the Club as soon as possible.
Who does the reform apply to?
The reform applies to all Employer Liability (EL) and Public Liability (PL) bodily injury claims brought in England and Wales for incidents occurring on or after 1st August 2013.
Any Member with:
- places of business or operations
- providing services
- or using equipment
in England and Wales can face a claim and such claims may be subject to the reforms.
EL and PL bodily injury claims where general damages (the damages for the injury itself, without financial or other losses) are valued from £1,000 to £25,000, may be handled via the Portal (subject to the restrictions set out below).
What does this mean for Members?
These changes offer a chance to speed up litigation and reduce costs liabilities on defendants and their insurers. Presently, claimant costs on straightforward cases can easily exceed £10,000. The Portal offers fixed claimant costs for cases which are suitable for handling within it, and the maximum is £2,100.
Not all claims will be suitable for handling within the Portal, and claimant solicitors will try hard to remove claims from the Portal in order to avoid the lower, fixed cost tariff.
How do Members comply?
In order to take advantage, strict new procedures and deadlines must be met.
Upon receipt of a letter of claim for personal injury:
- Please confirm to the claimant that TT Club are your insurers, and provide TT Club's portal registration details, without delay. Note: We will update this page with these details as soon as they are available.
- Please send the claim, and a copy of your reply, to TT Club immediately so that we know that a claim may be registered in the Portal
- TT Club will have only one working day to acknowledge the claim within the portal once the claimant has registered it there - so please inform the Club as soon as possible that a claim has been received and acknowledged by you.
In cases where liability is clearly in dispute, contributory negligence is involved, or for various other reasons of legal or factual complexity, claims will have to leave the Portal and be dealt with in the traditional and more costly way.
However, the objective must be to commence handling of the claim within the Portal in order to secure the costs benefits, and then decide whether or not the claim can continue to be handled within the Portal.
Before commencing a case a claimant's solicitor is under obligation to make reasonable efforts to locate the right insurer. Publicising TT Club's name and Portal registration numbers on your website may help claims to be sent directly to the Club's Portal account for acknowledgement.
Note
: We will publish the registration numbers on this page once received.
Investigation time
TT Club have only 40 calendar days for PL claims (or 30 calendar days for EL claims) to investigate and make a decision on liability. During this period you will need to assist the TT Club in obtaining the following details:
- All relevant reports, photos and correspondence
- Necessary witness evidence
- Any technical records, contracts or other relevant documents
This will be a difficult timetable to meet, however the speedier resolution of claims along with reduced claimant costs makes the process worth undertaking.
For further information
Please contact your usual claims adviser. Their details are provided on your certificate of insurance.
