Over 140,000 Road Traffic Accidents reported to the police in 2015 according to government statistics. Of the 140,000 accidents reported 80% of those were classed as low value claims i.e. of a value up to £10,000.
These claims are typically progressed through the Ministry of Justice’s Claims Portal, write our Personal Injury Solicitors in Leicester.
The portal system was introduced back in April 2010 to deal with all new low value Road Traffic Accident Claims valued under £10,000. Further reforms were then brought in on 31st July 2013 which expanded the upper limit to £25,000. The idea behind this new electronic system is to allow Claimants to have their personal injury claim settled much more quickly than through more traditional means of bringing a claim. In turn this allows Claimants to receive their accident compensation faster and can also be a much less stressful way of bringing a claim for them.
There are three main stages to the claims process through the portal system. Our personal injury solicitors will deal with each step.
Stage 1 is known as the “investigation” stage.
It includes sending a Claims Notification Form (CNF) to the Defendant which your Solicitor will usually do and this must then be acknowledged by the defendant within 1 working day. Once the Defendant has acknowledged the CNF they will have 15 days to respond to the liability aspect of the claim. If the defendant does not accept liability in full then the claim will fall outside of the scope of the portal. If liability is admitted in full then the Defendant must pay the £200 fee for completing stage 1 of the process. Following this the claim will progress on to stage 2.
Stage 2 is known as the “Negotiation” stage.
At this stage it is important to have all medical evidence gathered along with any other supporting evidence for the claim. It is also at this stage that the claimant will be asked to state how much he/she is prepared to accept in order to settle the claim. After doing this the Defendant and Claimant will then have a further 35 days to negotiate and try to reach an agreement.
Stage 3 is known as the “Litigation stage”.
In this final stage of the system the parties have not been able to reach an agreement and so if the Claimant still wishes to pursue their claim they will have to bring it through usual Court Proceedings to recover a higher amount. The claim will simply just fall out of the portal system at this point.
It is clear that the portal system can be a much more quick and cost effective way to bring a low value claim and can also stop parties from dragging out the process of seeing a claim through to conclusion with can take months if not years.
The scope of potential users for the online portal was widened back in July 2013. It was extended to allow claims arising out of Employer Liability and Public Liability to use the system as well as Road Traffic Accidents, all of which our personal injury solicitors can help with.
If you have been involved in an accident an want independent local solicitor assistance, please contact us.
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