Personal injury claims increase
It has been revealed that personal injury claims have now reached the £4million zone, according to figures released from the Public Account Committee.
The report also showed that £1 million is paid in injury lawyer fees. The claims, which are being made against the Roads Service are double those paid out in England and Wales.
The inquiry also found that the average cost of a claim has soared by nearly four times the rate of inflation over the past 10 years.
The study also looked at the number of claims made between 1999 and 2008 and at efforts from Road Service, and the Department for Regional Development (DRD), to improve both road surfaces and customer service.
Paul Maskey MLA, chairperson of the assembly's committee, said the payments were based on guidelines set by the local Judicial Studies Board.
He explained: “The Department told us that a judicial committee of solicitors, barristers and judges sets County Court fees.
“The Committee is greatly concerned that the legal profession, whose members stand to benefit financially, makes this decision in isolation from the public and private sector bodies which must bear these costs.
“This is an unhealthy situation which does not seem to meet any of the generally accepted principles of governance and accountability.”
Insurance Fraud
As genuine compensation claims are on the up, many insurance experts are worried that fraudulent cases will increase too.
Insurance crime has hiked to an estimated £1.9billion a year in Great Britain, causing a domino effect in the form of rises in insurance premiums, therefore, genuine drivers who crash suffer from such cons.
This year alone the average car insurance premium ballooned to above £1,000 for the first time in the UK, which is a 19% increase on what the average motorist was paying a year ago to insure their cars. The rise in premiums is costing the average household £44 a year in higher premiums.
Furthermore, a survey carried out among lawyers exposed that 57% had noticed a rise in the number of exaggerated claims or invented injuries from claimants in a bid to make money from their insurance companies in the past 10 years.
Paul Breen, from a specialist injury solicitors firm commented: “The rise in fraudulent claims in the UK is shocking.”
“Honesty is the only policy when making a claim. Lying will only put your cover in jeopardy, and affects the people out there who genuinely need to make a claim, particularly those who have received serious injuries. They rely on their claims going through quickly and effectively.
“Fraudulent claims only serve to delay the process by clogging up the courts. It is a situation that we need to get to grips with as quickly as possible if genuine victims are to get the treatment and the compensation they really deserve,” he stated.
Nick Starling, the Association of British Insurers director of general insurance and health, agreed, saying: “There is no hiding place for insurance cheats.
“Closer scrutiny of proposal forms and claims, as well the exchange of information through industry-wide databases, is tightening the net on the cheats,” he concluded.Updated on 5/18/2010