Blog: Whiplash Reforms and your personal injury claim
With summer in full swing, we’re all more able to get out and about and for many, that means getting in the car and heading off to the great outdoors. The UK has some of the safest roads in Europe with fewer crashes reported year-on-year since 2013.
However, if you are unlucky and find yourself in a car accident, you’ll need to be aware of a new way of dealing with compensation claims for low value injuries, which was introduced in England and Wales on the 31st May, known as the Whiplash Reforms.
So, what do these reforms mean for you?
- most minor injuries received in road accidents now fall under a “small claims” process for claims under £5,000. This means legal costs are often not recoverable for claims for common injuries such as Whiplash.
- therefore, you can now settle your own claim for free through Official Injury Claim, a user-friendly online service for claiming for minor injuries from road accidents.
- you’ll now need to provide medical evidence to back up your claim. Official Injury Claim will help you arrange this through the service.
- the amount of compensation for whiplash injuries is now fixed to a set amount. The value depends on how long it impacted you, up to a duration of two years.
You can find out more about Whiplash injury compensation in the Guide to Making a Claim.
Official Injury Claim can help
You can use Official Injury Claim with or without a legal adviser. You’ll be guided through the process of making your claim, getting a medical report and all the way through to accepting an offer of compensation.
If you’ve been involved in a road-traffic accident and think you’re entitled to compensation, go to the Make a Claim page to find out whether you can use our service for your claim.
You’ll be asked a few simple questions to make sure that this is the right service for your claim. If it is, you’ll need to create an account and the service will securely save your information so you can keep track of your claim as it progresses.
We’re here for you at what might be a difficult time and will ensure that you can get all the help that you need.