Will RTA compensation payouts be speeded up by new scheme?
The Ministry of Justice has published its policy report outlining a new claims process for road traffic accident personal injury claims valued between £1,000 and £10,000. You can read the policy yourself. Work is now going on with the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to implement the scheme.
A central part of the scheme is the fixing of costs. This will replace the existing predictable costs regime that currently applies to RTA claims settling for less than £10,000. There are a number of stages with payments accruing for each stage.
Stage 1 - £400 Stage 2 - £800 Paper hearing - £250 Oral hearing - £500
Stage 1 ends with an admission or denial of liability. If a denial then the case exits the procedure. If an admission is made the Stage 1 costs will be paid (effectively an interim costs payment for claimants which will help cashflow). Medical evidence is then obtained and the claimant makes an offer. If the parties agree a compensation figure the matter is settled and the claimant receives Stage 2 costs are paid. A success fee of 12.5% is also payable then on Stage 1 and 2 costs.
If the matter is not settled there will be either a paper or oral hearing with further fixed costs payable by one party or the other – part 36 will come into effect. The staged costs levels were fixed following a Civil Mediation Council arranged mediation between the relevant stakeholders including APIL and FOIL.
How is this scheme going to affect your practice or your insurance company? Are the fixed costs fair? Will claimants get the right standard of representation? Will RTA insurance premiums fall?
Tell us what you think.
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It is good to know the ministry of justice has announced some clauses to help the accident victims.Few stages also have been described here very convincingly.