It’s a fact that the United Kingdom has the highest rate of injury claims in Europe. Those who frown on the system complain of a “compensation culture” and a “blame culture”, but further research suggests that the reason why the UK has the highest injury claim rate in Europe is because the legal industry has done an efficient job at making people aware of their legal rights to make a claim for financial compensation, in the event that they’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t their fault.
It’s important to remember that an accident can be a life-changing experience. It can in fact lead to severe physical, psychological and financial hardship. Presented with this, people will naturally want to claim damages, in order to aid in theirs and their families recovery.
This high number of claims does come at a cost though – or more specifically, fraudulent claims come at a cost. It’s estimated that with road traffic accidents, fraudulent injury claims add an extra £93 premium cost to the average motorist. It’s critical that we separate genuine injury claims from fraudulent injury claims; it is fraudulent injury claims that cost members of the public money, not genuine injury claims. It’s also important to consider that it is illegal for a person to make a fraudulent injury claim – there are many documented cases of people being sentenced to 12-18 months in prison for committing injury fraud.
Reputable solicitor’s, such as those at http://www.ukclaimlawyers.co.uk/, play a critical role in taking on cases that are genuine – cases where the claimant has a real case for financial compensation. Unfortunately, not all solicitors are as reputable.
But does this higher than average injury claim rate translate to higher payouts?
There’s little research into this for us to be able to make an accurate statement. What we will say however is that UK law makes it easier for people to make a claim for personal injury compensation than some other countries inside and outside the EU. This is in large part because who a claimant should claim against is much clearer. It’s also important to consider that the UK is unique in the fact that no win, no fee is the standard agreement between claimant and solicitor with personal injury claims – in other countries, such as Germany, legal costs usually have to be paid up front. However, most people will have legal insurance.
Overall
To summarise, the United Kingdom has the highest rate of injury claims in the EU – and a higher rate than many countries outside of the EU. However, it is fraudulent injury claims that are a burden on our society – not genuine injury claims, and this distinction is incredibly important in order to stop everybody who claims being painted with the same brush.
Source: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/uk_s_injury_claims_culture_worst_in_europe_at_2_6bn_says_aviva_1_3989915
