Legal News
RTA Portal comes into force from today (1 May 2013)
Date: 01/05/2013
Chris Grayling the Justice Secretary has said today that the government was turning the tide on the compensation culture.
His comments have come as the big cut in RTA portal fees from 1,200 to 500 was enforced today for claims up to £10,000.
In the near future the portal is suppose to handle claims upto £25,000, and to include employer’s and public liability cases from 31 July 2013.
Grayling said the unbridled compensation culture was pushing up the cost of insurance and making it more expensive to drive a car or organise an event. It was time to rebalance the whole system.
A spokesman for the MoJ added that the change would make no difference to the amount of compensation victims would receive for genuine claims but will reduce the unwanted additional bills faced by insurers and enable them to pass on savings to their customers.
He added that the government was resolute to "crack down" on whiplash claims by consulting on setting up independent medical panels to improve injury assessment and increasing the small claims court limit.
A spokesman for Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said fees must be set at an appropriate level to cover basic costs, a point which the government seems to have overlooked.
Fixed fees in more complex cases raised serious concerns. From the end of July, employment liability and public liability cases falling out of the portal will fall in to the fixed fee framework in the fast track.
He added that it would not be straightforward. Despite this costs would be set at the same level even though the difficulties involved would make cases much more time consuming to resolve.
With 65 per cent of cases currently dropping out of the portal into the fast track, deserving but difficult cases may go unheard simply because it is not financially viable for personal injury lawyers to take them.