Compensation for road crash victims suffering with whiplash is calculated by way of a tariff-based system, meaning the amount of compensation is determined, largely, on how long the injury lasts.

It makes no consideration of the impact of the needless injury on the individual’s life. Tariffs are better suited to taxi fares and phone contracts, not injured people. 

When the tariff was first introduced in April 2021, compensation was set far too low, at arbitrary levels. The system was never appropriate, but the latest developments have made a bad situation worse.

Increases in inflation have whittled away at the value of the tariff, which is to be expected. The tariff was therefore reviewed late last year and as a result the payments in the tariff will rise by 15 per cent from the end of May.

But it is not enough. The compensation still falls woefully short of providing fair damages to people who have suffered debilitating injuries that derail their lives for many months at a time – and longer in some cases. The amount which injured people receive will be even less, in real terms, than what they received when the tariff was introduced four years ago.

If the system must remain, then the just thing to do is to increase the tariff in line with what has happened with inflation, using the Consumer Price Index. Instead, the Lord Chancellor chose to make complex predictions about future inflation and add in a ‘buffer’ to account for what might happen to inflation in the future.

When you consider anything else set by the Government, such as pensions and benefits, uprating the payments levels is based on what inflation has done.

This is also how the Judicial College Guidelines uprates compensation paid for other injuries (i.e. not whiplash) for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity. This ensures that these things stay in line with inflation. Had that same method been applied to the whiplash tariff when the Lord Chancellor undertook the review, the tariff would be about to increase by 22 per cent.

Let’s also not forget that the tariffs were set at completely arbitrary, and insulting, levels to begin with. An increase of 22 per cent would not fix the problems with this tariff-based system, but it would at least mean that compensation paid to injured people is not reduced further.  

Victims receive low compensation payments of sometimes just a few hundred pounds for injuries that totally disrupt their lives. The tariff fails miserably at compensating injured victims of negligence.

Imagine a young mum driving to work when a careless driver smashes into the back of her car with such force she suffers a whiplash injury to her neck. Her injury is so painful she cannot drive or sit at her desk at work, and she is forced to take six months off while she recovers. Her income is hit because she’s not working, and she is left struggling financially.

At home she cannot even pick up her toddler when he cries. The situation is very distressing for them both. The low amount of compensation she receives will not in any way properly compensate her for what she has gone through financially or personally.

The reforms to whiplash claims have created a ‘justice gap’. The cost, time, and effort of pursuing these claims for such a meagre amount of compensation has meant that the number of these claims has plummeted dramatically since 2021. This is not access to justice.  

During a recent debate in the House of Commons on the effect of the Civil Liability Act 2018, which included the whiplash reforms, it was reported that the Government will undertake a review of the whiplash reforms later this year. APIL is awaiting more information about the nature of that forthcoming review, and will engage with the process.

If the same convoluted approach for uprating the tariff next month is repeated in future reviews, a further erosion of the tariff figures and real-terms compensation for injured people is likely.

People left with painful injuries caused by the negligence of others deserve better than the deal they get now. They should receive full and fair compensation – nothing more, nothing less. It is the cornerstone of a civilised society.