Radical Changes for Road Traffic Accident Claims Process

Back in September of 2009, the Ministry of Justice announced its plans to rationalise the system of low cost personal injury claims for road traffic accidents. These reforms are coming into force on the 30th of April 2010 and are intended to speed up the process.

The new road traffic accident (RTA) claims system is aimed at ensuring that compensation will be paid to the complainant as early as possible. From now on, the claimant’s solicitors and compensators will be required to provide all the necessary information and respond within a certain period of time.

Under the old system, it could take a few months just to establish a liability.With the introduction of these new rules, a claim can be approved as quickly as within 30 days of an accepted liability. The new process will apply to RTA claims for personal injury if the value of the claim is between £1,000 and £10,000. The new system will notify insurers about the claim to enable quick decision making on liability.

At the end of April 2010, the new electronic portal will go live, designed to help solicitors and insurers to communicate information between legal professionals and insurance carriers. A fixed-cost structure and more rigid deadlines will have a fundamental impact in the way motor vehicle accident claims are submitted and handled.

The organisations involved have been duly informed and given weeks to prepare themselves for the new process, and to adapt their systems internally.

The portal can be accessed through a normal web browser route or by connecting to the web server through A2A interface to the internal systems and programmes used by representatives of the claimant or compensating parties.

This process should eventually become more transparent and clearly defined to provide for fixed deadlines and reimbursable expenses.

By introducing the new system, the Ministry of Justice is confident that the personal injury claim process will become more defined and transparent.