Extension to the Ministry of Justice Claims Portal – to be implemented 31 July 2013
In 2010, the government introduced a system which requires solicitors to report all RTA Motor personal injury claims with a value between £ 1,000 and £ 10,000 via an online portal. This was designed to speed up the settlement of claims by introducing strict timescales and fixed legal fees for the various stages of the process. This is being extended to include EL and PL injury claims and increase the RTA limit.
• Extension of Portal limit for RTA Motor Claims
The portal limit will be increased to £ 25,000 for all Motor personal injury claims.
• Extension of Portal to include EL and PL Injury Claims
The portal will extend to Public and Employers Liability personal injury claims for a value between £ 1,000 and £ 25,000.
Claims Notification by the claimant under the new EL / PL Extension
EL claims notified through the Portal should go directly to the insurer. This is because solicitors can now identify the EL insurer via the ELTO database facility thereby reducing the notification burden on you and your client.
However there remains a possibility that PL claims( where no insurer database exists) notified through the Portal could come to the insured / your client direct. If this happens your client will need to:
• Contact the Claimant’ s representative by e-mail and acknowledge the CNF within 24 hours( simply tell them the name of their PL insurer and give them the policy number.
• Notify you( their broker) and the insurer of the claim, the same day as the above acknowledgement is sent.
Timescale for initial response
Insurers( or policyholders where they receive notification outside the portal) must acknowledge receipt of a new Claim Notification Form electronically within 1 business day( currently 21 days) or send via 1st class post.
Timescales for decisions on liability
Cover / Class |
Number of working days to admit or |
dispute liability |
RTA( Motor) |
15 business days( no change) |
EL |
30 business days( currently 90 days) |
PL |
40 business days( currently 90 days) |
Definition of a‘ business day’ Any day except Saturday, Sunday, a bank holiday, Good Friday or Christmas Day.
Reasons why a claim might drop out of / exit the portal( with significantly increased fees then applying)
• Where the above timescales are not met
• If there is an argument for contributory negligence
• Where there are allegations of fraud
• Liability is not admitted
• Causation remains in issue
How will this impact your customer?
• The strict deadlines to admit or dispute liability means the prompt reporting of accidents likely to give rise to a claim and the early support of all relevant and accurate accident documentation is essential.
• Notify you( the broker) or insurer if they believe a claim is likely to follow, allowing insurers to complete enquires about liability before any claim is received and make a liability decision within the deadlines.
How will this impact you( the broker)?
• You should be aware of all the changes and that these are the biggest changes in Civil Justice for over 10 years.
• Make sure that all key individuals and stakeholders within your brokerage and your clients are briefed on the changes and, in particular, that they understand the stringent new timescales around new notifications.
• You will need to understand whether a claim is likely to be proceeding under RTA or EL / PL Protocols via the MoJ Claims Portal and the procedure for reporting these claims.
• You will also need to be aware of any changes to policy wording in terms of the structure of how claims are to be notified and to make sure that clients are aware of these changes.
• Keep abreast of how these reforms might impact the market for Before the Event and After