Thompsons says ABI’s fraud statistics “don’t stack up”

Thompsons Solicitors has accused the Associations of British Insurers (ABI) of releasing a series of inconsistent, misleading and unsupported arguments about the levels of fraud in the UK in order to advance its attempts to further restrict access to justice.

Figures released by the ABI and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department on 30 May state that there were as many as 59,900 dishonest motor claims detected in 2013 but that only 85 people had been prosecuted since 2011.


Thompsons said that the figures were designed to paint a picture of mass insurance fraud.

The firm's head of personal injury, Judith Gledhill, said that the ABI's current line was exactly the same one that it has "been peddling for a long time".


“Groups like the ABI take great pains to paint a picture of a compensation culture and mass fraud but as ever, their figures don’t stack up," she said.

“We are raising these concerns publicly and challenging the ABI to respond because it’s precisely these sorts of figures that are increasingly becoming the basis for public policy decisions and changes to UK law. It’s vital that figures put out by bodies like the ABI are – considering their wider implications for the people of the UK – transparently compiled and independently verified which right now, isn’t happening.”


“If the ABI’s figures are accurate and if we are in fact in the midst of a fraud epidemic, it begs the question why there are so few prosecutions?” she added.

The firm has asked that the ABI clarifies a number of issues such as: how many so-called bogus frauds have actually resulted in financial payments being made; what research is available to support the claim that it has detected 59,900 bogus motor fraud claims in 2013; and exactly how much money was paid out by insurers for motor insurance claims in 2013.

Mark Dugdale