Toggle high contrast

Personal Injury Claims Proposals for Change

Issue date

The TUC is keen to see the costs of personal injury claims kept to a minimum for employers, insurers and the state, whilst making it easier and quicker for injured or ill workers to access the compensation to which they are entitled. To try to achieve this, the report makes the following suggestions:

  • Guidelines for speeding up the handling of personal injury claims were introduced in 1998, but these protocols are often ignored. The TUC would like to see the Department for Constitutional Affairs investigate why insurers usually fail to take these into account, and introduce sanctions to encourage increased compliance.
  • The earlier that defendants, or insurers, admit liability, the lower the end costs will be, and it should become possible to reach a settlement in a much shorter period of time. Early admission is in everyone's interests.
  • The UK has a very poor record on helping ill and injured employees back to work. Getting people back into the labour market quickly can greatly reduce the damages paid out, and the TUC is keen to work with insurers and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop effective new rehabilitation proposals.
  • The easiest way to reduce the cost of handling personal injury claims is to prevent work-related accidents or illnesses from happening in the first place. One of the ways to focus the minds of negligent employers would be increase the rates of employers' liability insurance they pay. At the moment, there is little difference in the premiums paid by firms with good and those with bad safety records.

PDF iconDownload Personal Injury Claims Proposals for Change guidance [PDF]

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

To access the admin area, you will need to setup two-factor authentication (TFA).

Setup now