In the Media - Fixed Recoverable Costs and First4InjuryClaims

It will come as no surprise that reforms continued to dominate the headlines this quarter.

Comment from managing director Qamar Anwar on the delayed introduction of fixed recoverable costs for lower-value clinical negligence claims was reported in Legal Futures, New Law Journal and the Law Society Gazette.

He said: “Lawyers have accepted the reforms are coming; they just want adequate time to prepare so that they can continue to deliver the best outcomes for vulnerable clients.

“They cannot prepare without more information, including details of the pre-action protocol which is apparently yet to be written.”

Nick Delaney, our business development director, also authored an article on the subject for Insurance Claims.

It has been a busy period for First4InjuryClaims, with over 2,350 settlements and around £6.5 million in compensation for injured clients recovered to date.

The team also continues to outperform the market when it comes to the time taken to settle claims in the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal.

However, proposals put forward by lawyers to improve the OIC portal were knocked back by the Ministry of Justice.

Claimant and defendant representatives came together for a series of roundtables, but 15 of their 22 ideas were dismissed.

Writing in Insurance Claims, head of legal practice, Andrew Wild, who was invited to one of the roundtables, said it was disappointing but there were some positives to take from the process.

“Ministers have at least left the door open for possible action on the remaining points,” he said.

“Lawyers may often feel like they aren’t being listened to, but it is the sharing of our experience, knowledge and opinion that has and will continue to help shape legislation, and on which consumers’ access to justice depends.”

Andrew had a letter published in the Law Society Gazette highlighting his thoughts on the issue.

He was also quoted in two Insurance POST features on ways to streamline the claims process and how to reduce the rising cost of motor insurance. Greater transparency on pricing is needed on the latter, he said, or, failing that, an independent, not-for-profit body, with clear governance and reporting including publishing information on average settlement times, cost per claim figures, fraud, and causes of claims.

Elsewhere, our recently promoted director of marketing Andy Cullwick shared what he has learned about paid search in the first of a four-part series of articles for The Professionals, a magazine championing best practice in professional services marketing and business development.

Senior marketing communications manager Shelley Schubert took the reins for our regular blog in Insurance Claims, with a handy digital marketing jargon-buster. If you can’t tell your backlinks from your bounce rate and need to check your Core Web Vitals, you can read it here.