Whiplash assessment report fees slashed

Published: 07/08/2014

The cost of an initial medical report, regardless of the type of medical expert, for soft tissue injuries will be cut to a fixed fee of £180 as the Government continues to try and reduce the number of fraudulent personal injury claims.

Some medical agencies are currently charging up to £700 for a medical assessment of a patient involved in a road traffic accident. However government believes that without such a financial incentive, medical agencies and claims management companies will be far more diligent when taking on claims.

Chris Grayling is the Justice Secretary:

“We’re saying that doctors should be paid a fixed price for that work.

“And we’re saying that across the claims process we should have structure that makes sure that people are paid for what they really do, that claims that go through are genuine and that we drive out some of the practices that are inflating insurance premiums unnecessarily.

“Honest drivers have been bearing the cost of a system that has been abuse and it is time for a change.

“We are determined to have an improved, robust system for medical evidence – so genuine claims can still be settled but fraud is driven out of the market.”

The new fixed fees will be introduced for all ‘soft tissue injury’ claims submitted on or after 1st October 2014.

N.B. A ’Soft Tissue Injury Claim’ is defined as a claim brought by an occupant of a motor vehicle where the significant physical injury caused is a soft tissue injury and includes claims where there is a minor psychological injury secondary in significance to the physical injury.”