ILC ARTICLE

OIC portal subject to government inquiry

13th February 2023

The Justice Committee has launched an inquiry into the impact of the whiplash reforms, including the effectiveness of the Official Injury Claims portal.

The reforms were introduced in 2021 to cut the cost of whiplash insurance claims, which had risen to more than £2bn a year. The Ministry of Justice also asked the industry to establish an online claims portal to process smaller claims quickly and easily.

However, results of the portal have been mixed with far fewer claims settled than expected, and ease of use still dogged by technical issues.

The Chair of the Justice Committee, Sir Bob Neill, said. “Whiplash injury claims have been costing motorists a disproportionately large amount of money and taking up a lot of precious court time. That’s not to minimise the pain and suffering such injuries can cause. But if we can find a way of saving money and court time we should do so.

“So we’ll be looking carefully into the way claims are being processed and how much they cost motorists and the wider tax-paying public. We want justice to prevail, but we want it to be efficient as well.”

The committee is now inviting evidence on a number of issues, including:

• Have the reforms reduced the number of personal injury claims?
• Have the reforms cut the overall cost of whiplash claims, and have these savings been passed on to drivers?
• Why do most claimants still use legal representation when claiming through the portal?
• Is the portal easy to use and does it settle claims in a timely manner?
• Is the portal suitable for handling mixed injury claims?

The deadline for making written submissions is Friday 17 March.