Shorter time period to deal with accidents and injury claims – Ministry of Justice reforms 2013
With effect from 1st August 2013, the Ministry of Justice has amended the Civil Procedures rules relating to personal injury claims. This means that there is now a much shorter time frame for dealing with accident and injury claims. Prior to 1st August a period of 90 days was allowed for decisions on liability, this has now been drastically reduced. From the 1st August 2013 for Employers Liability claims there is a limit of 30 days to decide liability and Public Liability claims there is a limit of 40 days. Also, all letters and forms of claim will have to be acknowledged within 24 hours of receipt.
The operational impact on organisations receiving claims will be significant, because the time frames for accepting claims and making decisions on liability will be drastically reduced as a result of these changes. This will put pressure on organisations to respond to insurance company requests for information on a timely basis so that they can evaluate and respond to claims. This reinforces the need for organisations to maintain accessible evidence and to conduct prompt investigations into incidents. Information to decide liability will require ready access to relevant information, such as risk assessments, training records and any information provided to the claimant.
Delays in providing information to insurance claim teams could lead to claims not being defended and ultimately affect renewal of insurance premiums.