Commenting on the first birthday of the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal, which was launched by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on 31 May 2021, Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO), said:
"Nobody doubts that a lot of work has gone on to try and make the OIC function as it should, but while it's been an A for effort, it's D for delivery. There is industry-wide consensus that the new portal has struggled, and that a system intended for the digital age has been hampered by a range of technical issues.
"Flaws have only come to light now because there was no pre-testing, and so far the MoJ has refused to sanction a change-control group to really grip the outstanding issues.
"Ministers will be pleased that claims volumes have fallen to historic lows, which was in effect the policy objective, although the picture on fraud reduction is difficult to discern and we won't find out about savings to insurance premium holders for at least another two years.
"What's perplexing is that while traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels, injury claims are bumping along at lockdown levels. Even accounting for an element of driver behaviour change, it still means accidents and injuries are happening, but people aren't getting the attention they deserve.
"Looking ahead, we urge ministers to commit to giving the public a clear understanding of what they should expect by way of settlement times. Currently, there are no targets or measures to clarify how long claimants should expect to wait, meaning the OIC is largely unaccountable to consumers.
"It seems perverse to spend millions on a new portal and yet have no real way of knowing if it is working. So we are left with what lawyers and insurers alike are saying, which is that it's not.
"Meanwhile on the thorny issue of how to value the two in three claims which are a mixture of whiplash and non-whiplash injuries, we are no further forward. This leaves injured people in limbo."