Road Traffic Accident (RTA) Personal Injury Claim Reforms Launched Today
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) radical reforms to the personal injury claim process for road traffic accidents (RTA) are being rolled out today.
The new electronic portal for the transfer of information between solicitors and insurers, a fixed-cost structure and tighter deadlines will see a revolutionary shake up of the way claims for motor vehicle accidents are filed and processed.
The new RTA claims system could see claims – where liability is accepted – agreed within 30 days. The new claims process will apply to road traffic accident (RTA) personal injury claims where the value of the claim is between £1,000 and £10,000.
The aim is to ensure that the process delivers fair compensation to the claimant as soon as possible. It provides for insurers to have early notification of the claim, with sufficient information to enable them to make a decision on liability, while recognising that there are steps that the claimant solicitor has to follow before notification can be given.
The aim, the MoJ explains, is for the process to be as clear and well defined as possible and to include fixed time periods and fixed recoverable costs.
Organisations who will face the impact of the changes were recently given an additional twenty four days to prepare for the MoJ RTA personal injury claims process reforms, the changes were original set for implementation at the beginning of the month.
The portal will provide the swift, electronic exchange of all relevant claim information and related documentation - including medical records - between lawyers and insurers/compensators and will enable key decisions to be communicated more quickly and reduce duplication. Such streamlined flow of information on both liability and quantum between parties will help to reduce operational costs and enable the insurer/compensator to agree settlement more swiftly.
Access to the portal is available via a standard web browser route or by linking with the Web Server via Application-to-Application (A2A) interfaces to the internal applications, systems used by claimant representatives or defendant insurers, compensators.
A Project Steering Group (PSG), with an independent chairman and supported by IDSL, has been established to manage the development of the electronic communications portal.
The PSG is comprised of representatives from the Law Society, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) and insurers.
For further information visit;
http://www.rtapiclaimsprocess.org.uk/
