Whiplash Compensation Claims are Up - MRSA Claims are Down

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Burden of Claims Costs to the British Public Still Rising? [3rd Nov 2011]

James Dalton from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has given a speech at a whiplash conference this week where he quoted that the numbers of people claiming for the injury has increased by 32% in the last three years. The is the equivalent of 570,000 claims a year or one person every minute of the day. This figure has even increased despite a fall in the number of accidents reported to the police during the same time period. In fact for every accident reported to the police there are 2.7 claims of whiplash. The insurance industry is paying compensation to whiplash victims at the rate of £22 billion each year which adds £90 to the average motor insurance premium. ABI research has also shown that 75% of all personal injury claims are for whiplash and this is twice the proportion claimed elsewhere in Europe. Dalton has pointed out that the system is riddled with excessive legal costs and the compensation system too slow and complex. He points out that this slows down genuine claims and encourages exaggerated claims.

Figures revealed this week have shown that £10 million has been paid out to people who caught the bug MRSA and other superbugs in UK hospitals. Last year 93 claims were successful and compensation was paid out to people who caught infections in UK hospitals. It is thought that these bugs spread because of poor hygeine standards on hospital wards. Simple measures like hand-washing could be enough to prevent these types of bugs. Health Minister Simon Burns has said that the number of such claims could be reduced in the future as in the last year there have been 29% fewer claims for MRSA. The number of claims for C.Difficile have fallen by 17%.

Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have shown this week that workplace fatalities have increased to 171 this year compared to 147 last year. However despite these figures, the numbers of workplace injuries has actually fallen from 26,268 to 24,700. Experts have suggested that Britain continues to have the lowest rate of fatalities at work compared to the rest of Europe and also one of the lowest rates of work related illness. However the highest levels of work related accidents and death occur in the construction and farming industries. According to experts the HSE needs to focus their energies on making improvements in these sectors.

The Australian airline Qantas has announced it will be paying a compensation package of around $1,800 (AUD) to passengers who were stranded by a recent shutdown of the airline. Almost $800 of this will be for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation of flights. A spokeswoman from Qantas has confirmed that the company is bound by the European Commission regulations which demand compensation for disruptiuon if a flight is cancelled within the European Union. In addition to these standard payments, passengers will also get up to $350 per day for food and accommodation costs. The airline was shut down for three days and some passengers were stranded for longer. It has also been ruled that Qantas should cover some additional costs which may increase the compensation package further.

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