ACSO comments on the latest CRU claims data

Commenting on the publication of the latest claims data from the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU), received following an FOI request by the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO), its executive director Matthew Maxwell Scott said: 

"Motor claims recorded for April to June 2022, at 93,112, are slightly below the previous three months' figure of 97,099, but more significantly are down on the equivalent period in 2020, which was the height of the Covid lockdown. Given there has been a bounce back in UK traffic levels since then we would expect the number of RTAs largely to mirror these, but it is simply not the case. 

"We've now had the whole year's data for motor claims where every quarter shows the number recorded by the CRU to be below 100,000. As the three-month average before the pandemic was around 160,000, this means some quarter of a million claims we might have expected to be registered have disappeared. 

"While people's driving habits have changed, most of the explanation must be that genuinely injured people are not claiming when they could. This might be because the new Official Injury Claims process is too complex, or simply because they don't know about it. Ministers might count this as a success, but those with an interest in preserving access to justice will think otherwise."

Turning to other claims categories, Maxwell Scott noted: 

"Clinical negligence claims are broadly flat, though showing a downwards trend in the medium term. Public liability claims are also flat on the previous three months, while employer's liability claims are slightly up on Jan-March 2022, but again flat over the medium term. The big story from these statistics is in motor claims."

Jenni Baldwin, Managing Director of Essential Legal Services at ACSO member Slater and Gordon, added: "These latest figures show that claims are decreasing despite road traffic use not decreasing at the same rate; a clear indicator of the fact that the government portal is not working anywhere near as well as it should be. 

"We have continued to see claims management companies exiting the market as a result of the portal being set up, which has also led to the drop in the figures. 

"Yet it is clear that the customer experience is a world away from what it should be; the inefficiencies remain and it is deterring people from making claims. Only be talking to, and listening to, the industry can any progress be made."