Qamar Anwar, Managing Director, Comments on the Delay in Publication of Data From the Official Injury Claim Service

The release of data should not be a political issue and certainly a change in ministers should make no difference whatsoever – what decision do they need to take? The obvious conclusion to draw is that the data does not paint a happy picture and the MoJ is playing for time before having to deliver the message that the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal just isn’t working.

The primary issue is simply that it is way too difficult for most people to navigate on their own. OIC was built on the basis that injured people would not need a lawyer to use the system, but insurer data indicates that only around 10% of people are going it alone. So on its fundamental metric, the portal is a bust.

The other main problem is how so-called mixed claims – involving multiple injuries, some covered by the OIC tariff and others not – are dealt with. Everyone knew this would be a huge spanner in the works but the MoJ has simply shrugged its shoulders and thrown it to the courts to decide at some point in the future. In the meantime, injured people are left in limbo and the delay in releasing the OIC data is the least of their problems.