APIL president, Gordon Dalyell, said in reaction to the Government Actuary's Department's decision to leave the discount rate at -0.75 per cent:

“We welcome the certainty which this announcement will bring to injured people in Scotland and the transparency in the way the discount rate is calculated. People with catastrophic injuries, who are most affected by this, already have enough uncertainty in their lives. The fact that the calculation which governs the amount of compensation they will receive is set out clearly in legislation, and that political influence on the process is minimal, is very welcome in these times of economic and political uncertainty.

Governments in both Westminster and Holyrood have faced shameless and sustained pressure from insurers to set the discount rate at a level which suits their profit margins rather than injured people, and the transparency of the Scottish legislation, in particular, is a protection against that.

But the calculation is still based on the intention of making people take risks with the compensation which is to last their whole lives, which they should not have to do. After all, injured people are not ordinary investors trying to maximise a lottery win, and we must monitor this new rate carefully to ensure it provides them with the compensation they need.”