Grayling bows to pressure over small claims limit for whiplash

Justice secretary Chris Grayling has bowed to pressure, particularly from the transport select committee, and decided not to increase the small claims limit for whiplash cases from £1,000.

In a report published in July, MPs on the select committee called on the government not to increase the limit and said ministers seemed "only to be listening to the insurers' perspective".

Instead the MoJ has said it would introduce independent medical panels next year, "which will ensure only evidence from accredited professionals can be considered".

A spokeswoman for APIL said: "It is a huge relief that the government is considering the consequences of its proposals, at least for the time being, and appears to have recognised that genuinely injured people would have their much-needed access to justice compromised.

"We have long said that the small claims court is not the place for injured people, as they would be left unrepresented against experienced defendants."

Richard West, partner at defendant firm Kennedys, said it was to be hoped that "the days of suspiciously routine diagnoses and repetitively identical prognoses for alleged whiplash injuries" were over.

"Injured people, once properly and independently assessed, should receive the compensation to which they are entitled, and receive it more quickly.

"Those uninjured claimants who have felt it too easy to claim for whiplash in the past, should now be dissuaded from doing so."

Craig Budsworth (pictured), Chair of MASS, said the government had "pulled back from the brink of denying thousands of legitimate claimants" access to legal advice.

"If the insurance industry con had succeeded, they would have been able to hoodwink countless individuals in the small claims court.

"All sides must now work together to address the serious problem of fraud and exaggeration in claims finding workable solutions that are proportionate, balanced between the interests of claimants and defendants and favourable to all those who pay motor insurance."