A ‘do-it-yourself’ compensation system for people injured in road traffic collisions would be devastating for access to justice, lawyers have warned the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The DoJ is reviewing the way personal injury cases are funded and is considering the online Official Injury Claim (OIC) system in England and Wales as an option to replace legal aid for some lower value injury claims. Since 2021, injured motorists use an online portal to make claims for compensation and the amounts are fixed by a tariff.
“The Official Injury Claim portal (OIC) in England and Wales has proven to be a failure on all fronts. It would be detrimental to plaintiffs in Northern Ireland to repeat the mistakes here,” said Sabrina Lawlor, representative for Northern Ireland on the executive committee of UK-wide not-for-profit group APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers).
“People with debilitating injuries caused by the negligence of other drivers must navigate an unworkable online portal, in which over a third of all claims ever submitted are still stuck1,” she explained.
“Even when people are successful, they receive an arbitrary sum of a few hundred pounds for injuries lasting two years. It’s not justice,” Ms Lawlor said.
“The introduction of the OIC in England and Wales has devastated access to justice. The number of injured victims of negligence who receive any compensation has plummeted. Meanwhile, insurers have profited from the reduction in claims to the tune of £2.2 billion2,” she said.
APIL believes that legal aid should remain in place for injured people.
“Legal aid, where available, plays a vital role in ensuring access to justice. The success rate is high, meaning costs are usually recovered from the wrongdoer,” Ms Lawlor said.
“But we do recognise that legal aid is only available to around a quarter of plaintiffs who meet financial eligibility requirements. Injured people who aren’t eligible for legal aid must rely on private funding, or a law firm which can take on the risk and costs of a claim upfront. Some people, including those with life-changing injuries, risk falling through the funding gaps.
“A wider review of the costs involved in running a claim, including the cost of expert reports and legal expenses insurance, would go some way towards addressing the funding gap. The answer is not to import a system that has already failed.
“Whatever the outcome of the review, the importance of legal representation to help access justice in personal injury cases cannot be forgotten,” she said.