Personal injury market expected to grow by 1.6% between 2017 and 2021

The personal injury market is set to grow by 1.6% between 2017 and 2021, according to IRN Research.

The agency has said that the sector will grow modestly in value terms between 2017 to 2018 but it will decline in 2019 as the Government’s low value claims reforms begin to bite. Once the new rules have bedded down, the market is likely to see renewed modest value growth. Underlying volumes, however, will continue to fall.

An IRN survey of a panel of practitioners has confirmed the weaknesses in the sector with only 35% of those surveyed expecting increases in workload in the next 12 months, compared to 48% in 2016.

The results have been published in IRN Research’s UK Personal Injury Market Briefing 2017 report, which has estimated that the PI market – including clinical negligence – is worth almost £4 billion annually. It said that the current growth in the market was down to a major rise in the value of clinical negligence claims and the rising average value of claims related to motoring accidents, employer liability accidents, and public liability cases.

Mark Dugdale