PM aims to cut whiplash claim but fails to get both sides
Published: 01/03/2012
David Cameron has pledged his commitment to car insurers to help reduce whiplash claims and thus cut the cost of insurance premiums.
The Prime Minister has said he wanted to stop “trivial claims” after meeting with insurance, consumer and business groups at Downing Street.
During the talks, Britain was cited as the “whiplash capital of Europe” with insurers alleging such personal injury claims cost their industry in the region of £2bn and add £90 to the average insurance premium.
However, the talks failed to include any representative from the legal professional, despite The Law Society writing to the Prime Minister in regards to the matter. Desmond Hudson is the Chief Executive at The Law Society, which represents more than 125,000 solicitors in England and Wales:
“We wrote to the Prime Minister over a month ago, but it is disappointing that our offer to work with him and his government in addressing public concerns over whiplash claims has been ignored.
“Government should not be limiting itself to tea and cakes with one partisan set of stakeholders – the insurers.”¹ The Government has already pledged to ban personal injury referral fees. The reforms were originally scheduled for October this year but have been pushed back to April 2013.
Content correct at time of publication