Personal Injury Claims Portal

The Claims Portal is an electronic gateway by which personal injury claims are initiated, negotiated and settled. The Portal acts as a go-between for claimants (the injured person) and defendants (those responsible for the injury) to communicate and settle claims. The Portal is intended to speed up and streamline the entire claims process.

Since August 2013, all low-value personal injury claims including road traffic accidents, accidents at work and public liability accidents (i.e. accidents in public places) must start within the Claims Portal. Claims that exceed £25,000.00 do not commence in the Claims Portal.

The Portal has 3 key stages

Stage 1 – Investigation 

You will be asked to provide key information to complete the required fields of a Claim Notification Form (CNF). Such information will include your name, address, date of birth;  it will include details of the accident, and it will include details of the injury/ies sustained in the accident. The CNF must contain all the information necessary for a Claimant to prove their case and for the Defendants to investigate and evaluate the claim.

The Claim will be submitted electronically to the relevant Defendant/insurer and they must acknowledge receipt of the CNF within 1 working day. The Defendants have strict time limits in which to respond (Road Traffic Accident – within 15 working days; Accidents at work within 30 working days and Public Liability claims within 40 working days). If liability is not admitted at this stage or if the Defendant simply does not respond to claim, the claim will fall out of the Portal process and will continue under the Personal Injury Protocol. Under this protocol, the Defendants have around 3 months to investigate the claim and respond with their decision.

Stage 2 – Negotiation 

Once liability has been admitted, the claim will be valued. A Medical Report will be obtained which identifies the injuries sustained, the likely recovery period and/or any recommended treatment. The Claimant will be asked to approve the medical evidence, which will then be uploaded to the Claims Portal and submitted to the Defendant together with supportive documentary evidence of any financial losses (i.e. loss of earnings information, receipts for lost or damaged items and details of any expenses incurred).

Injuries are valued using comparisons with Judgements made by Courts on similar cases together with reference to widely accepted guidelines prepared by the Judicial College.  The Defendant has 15 working days to agree to the suggested settlement figures or to counter-offer against this sum with their own suggested figures. Both parties have a total of 35 working days to negotiate a settlement and attempt to come to an agreement.

Stage 3 – Litigation

If there has been no agreement reached at the end of Stage 2, the matter must be issued and proceed to Court for a Judge to decide a reasonable settlement sum.

If you have suffered an injury that wasn’t your fault, no matter how minor – let us help you start the claims process. Get in touch with our expert team today.