APIL finds that whiplash claims have fallen by more than a third since 2010

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has found that whiplash claims have fallen by almost 200,000 in the last five years in the UK, a decrease of almost a third.

After making a Freedom of Information request APIL has found that whiplash claims have dropped by 8% in the last year, meaning that they have continued on a downward trajectory since 2010.

Jonathan Wheeler, the President of APIL (pictured), said that people could be “forgiven for wondering” why insurers such as Aviva and the AA have recently been warning that car insurance premiums are set to increase due the cost of rising claims.

“Now we have cast-iron evidence that whiplash claims are falling,” said Wheeler in a blog on APIL’s website.

“The insurance industry promised the last Government that it would pass on savings from law reform to its customers in the form of lower insurance premiums. Yet now we are being warned that premiums are set to rise again.

“It appears that the insurers want more. What they are repeatedly calling for is an increase in the small claims court limit from £1,000 to £5,000 for personal injury cases. This would mean that many more people with injuries caused by someone else – perhaps on the roads, or at work – would be forced into a court where people represent themselves, a court which is traditionally used for settling disputes about faulty goods or services,” added Wheeler.

Mark Dugdale