First4Lawyers Comments on OIC Data Publication

Responding to the publication by the Ministry of Justice of the first three months of data on the operation of the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal, Andy Cullwick of First4Lawyers says: “We’re going to take time to analyse and compare this data with Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) data, however on first reading, 40% of unrepresented claimants seeking an uplift strikes us as high. It begs the question whether the unrepresented properly understand the process needed to make a claim at all?

“Unfortunately, there is no breakdown on how many law firms are submitting claims, but we do know there is a 10% drop in the number of RTAs going through the CRU at the moment compared to last year. When compared to pre-pandemic levels it represents a 45% drop. However, given the number of issues reported when the OIC portal went live and the lack of integration to the Claims Portal, it is far from clear if the OIC is doing the job effectively or just blocking justice to access.”

“The purpose of these reforms was to enable unrepresented claimants to handle their own RTA claims as they were thought by the government to be straightforward. It is very clear that very few are using this portal by themselves, which suggests they are not comfortable in handling their claim via an insurer and need representation. This is exactly why we were forced into launching our own alternative business structure, First4InjuryClaims, to help those who require support through the process.”