Development of RTA Portal

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Development of RTA Portal

Several leading experts from across the legal and insurance sectors have been appointed as directors with responsibility for the ongoing management and development of the new RTA Portal.

The RTA Portal is used by motor insurers/compensators and claimant legal representatives so that claims information, such as medical reports, can be exchanged in a secure way and also ensures that faster agreement on liability and settlement of claims is achieved as set out in the new RTA Low Value PI process.

The Portal’s users are also being prepared for a series of system enhancements scheduled for roll out in March. The changes to the online exchange have been prioritised based on feedback and are aimed at improving some functionality aspects so that fewer tasks need to be entered manually, while others will require essential changes to software.

Tim Wallis, appointed as independent Chairman of the RTA Portal Co Ltd, commented: “The RTA Portal supports the secure sharing of information relating to claims that fall under the MoJ’s new process. The system has been available since April this year and we’ve been talking to the different types of users to make sure that the next enhancements to the RTA Portal are suited to their needs.

“By virtue of the range of interests represented by the directors, the users of the RTA Portal can be satisfied that their ongoing needs are being met and most importantly, so too are those individuals making claims in this category.”

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) introduced the new process in April 2010 for RTA PI claims valued between £1,000 and £10,000. To support the new approach, representatives from insurers, unions and claimant lawyers have been cooperating to establish and manage the development of a secure environment which allows claims information to be exchanged between key parties.

Background to RTA Portal Company

The RTA Portal Co Ltd is responsible for the management of the settlement portal – RaPID – and is aimed at supporting users through the new Road Traffic Act (RTA) PI Claims Process established in April 2010 by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The process aims to enable faster agreement on liability and payment of low cost RTA injury claims (between £1,000 – £10,000).

Guided by an independent chairman, a group of representatives from the Law Society, Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) and insurers are managing and developing this system for the secure transmission of claims information.

Insurers previously had between 90 days to accept or deny liability for such personal injury claims. The new MoJ rules reduce this timeframe to 15 business days for insurers and 30 working days for the MIB. It is likely that 500,000 claims per annum will be processed via the new system.

Director Biographies

Independent Chairman for RTA Portal Company

Tim Wallis is a full time, independent mediator. A director of Expedite Resolution Limited and Trust Mediation Limited, he mediates commercial, insurance and personal injury claims for these and several other organisations. He is a founder member of the Civil Justice Council (CJC) and chairs its Dispute Resolution Committee. Having regularly assisted the CJC and, more recently, the Ministry of Justice in mediating and facilitating litigation costs negotiations he has become established as an accepted neutral in the insurance industry/personal injury sector. Sweet & Maxwell retain him as a contributor to the ADR sections of “The White Book” and “The Litigation Practice”.

Directors for RTA Portal Company

David Bott is the Vice President for APIL and Managing Partner of Bott & Company. Graham Gibson is Director of Claims at Allianz with responsibility for technical integrity and service delivery. He is a member of the UK Management Board. Prior to this he held a number of senior management positions in the industry, most recently as Claims Director for Groupama. Graham represents Allianz in a number of market initiatives and is currently a member of the Civil Justice Council, the ABI High Level Working Group (HLG) and the Chartered Insurance Institute’s, Claims Faculty Advisory Board to where he advises on their strategy and direction.

Richard Harris joined Ageas, formerly known as Fortis – the UK’s third largest private car insurer – in April 2006 and is Head of Operations, responsible for a key part of Ageas’s award winning claims division. With more than 25 years experience within the insurance market, Richard is responsible for all aspects of motor claims handled out of Ageas’s Eastleigh and Gloucester sites. He is also responsible for the setting up and delivery of the claims handling process for Ageas’s new insurance partnership with Tesco Bank, the largest affinity partnership of its kind in the UK insurance market.

Tony Sherman is Finance Director at MIB and has held financial management roles in the insurance sector for more than 20 years. Tony is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

John Spencer is a respected solicitor in the field of personal injury law. John has exceptional relationship management skills, has forged good business partnerships and held key positions within the Industry. John is presently the Motor Accident Solicitors Society’s (MASS) Chairman. John has been a member of APIL since 1995 and a Fellow since April 2006. John has had high level involvement in Government policy development and was co-opted onto the Civil Procedure Rules sub-committee. He has participated in stakeholder meetings and is a regular invitee to the Civil Justice Council (CJC) meetings.

John Usher is a solicitor, who works primarily as a trade union legal consultant and labour law lecturer. He is a member of the Civil Justice Council and has a keen interest in collective fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as access to justice. He is a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Advisory Committee on Civil Costs. John has been involved in the initiative to develop changes in the civil justice system resulting in the lower value RTA claims process. He is also an accredited mediator, a member of the Advisory Committee of Trust Mediation and a member of the Civil Mediation Council.

Martin Ward is a Project Manager in the Chief Operating Office of RBS Insurance. With 20 years experience in financial/ insurance services, he leads strategic change and major technology projects within RBS Insurance and is responsible for operational, transformation and technology projects. Martin is a member of the Association of Project Managers.

Fraser Whitehead is a senior litigation partner at the law firm Russell Jones and Walker. He is and Head of the firms Parliamentary and Legal affairs Department and Head of its Trade Union Services Group. He is Chair of the Law Society’s Dispute Resolution Section, a member of the Law Society’s Council and its Legal Affairs and Policy Board and Civil Litigation Committee. He chairs the Society’s Costs and Funding working party. He is also Chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers and past Chair of Trustees of the Child Accident Prevention Trust. He is a member of the Advisory Council of Unions 21, a committee member of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, a founder member of APIL and sat as member of the Blackwall Committee appointed by the Lord Chancellor to report on the role of claims management companies in Personal Injury and Employment claims handling. He is a member of the Ministry of Justice Advisory Committee on Civil Costs.

VAT victory on injury reports

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VAT victory on injury reports

Personal injury clients will not have to pay VAT on the cost of medical reports following a successful appeal by a Nottingham law firm, supported by the Law Society, in a tax tribunal last week.

Nottingham personal injury and clinical negligence firm Barratt Goff & Tomlinson (BGT), supported by written submissions from the Law Society, successfully challenged changes by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to the way medical reports and records to be used in litigation are assessed for VAT.

The fee that BGT and other firms paid to medical experts for reports and records had previously been accepted by HMRC as a disbursement, and so was free of VAT. However, in August 2008 HMRC asserted that because a firm ‘perused the records and reports as an integral part of the legal services it provided’, VAT should be paid on them.

BGT and the Law Society told the Manchester tax tribunal last month that the ‘use’ of medical reports and records was part of the legal service provided, and VAT was already charged on this as part of the tax payable on a lawyers’ fees. However, they argued that ‘obtaining’ the reports was a separate service carried out, as an agent, on behalf of the injured party, and any expense incurred was merely a disbursement, and so not subject to VAT. The tribunal accepted these arguments.

The ruling also brings certainty to other practice areas such as conveyancing, where the cost of obtaining local searches has always been treated as a disbursement for VAT purposes.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘We are relieved that common sense has prevailed. The approach taken by HMRC would have increased the costs of pursuing personal injury and clinical negligence cases. Many firms are likely to be affected by the outcome of the case, and so it was in the interests of a significant proportion of the profession for the Society to intervene.’

Injury claim referral fees ban

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Injury claim referral fees ban

Despite a fall in road accidents involving personal injury, claims have doubled in the past decade
The government is to ban referral fees in personal injury claims in an attempt to curb the “compensation culture”.

It says the current system in which personal injury details are sold on by insurance companies to lawyers has led to rising insurance costs.

Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly said honest motorists were seeing their premiums hiked as insurers covered the costs of ever more compensation claims.

The Association of British Insurers said the ban must be “watertight”.

‘Whiplash’

Mr Djanogly said: “Many of the claims are spurious and only happen because the current system allows too many people to profit from minor accidents and incidents.

“Referral fees are one symptom of the compensation culture problem and too much money sloshing through the system.

“People are being encouraged to sue, at no risk to themselves.”

He said the ban, applied in England and Wales, would make claimants think harder about whether to sue, and give insurers an incentive to pass the savings on to customers.

Nick Starling, of the Association of British Insurers: ”Everyone has seen their premiums rise”

“It’s certainly a racket. It’s a sick culture that we have to turn round.”

There is no current timescale for implementing a ban.

The government is already planning to stop losing defendants having to pay a “success fee” to reimburse the claimant’s lawyer for unconnected cases he may have lost.

It says the proposals before Parliamentmean people making the claim will have to pay the success fee – which will be capped – rather than the defendant.

Legal costs overall will fall which means lower costs to pass on to customers, it adds.

The news had a negative impact on shares of leading car insurer Admiral on Friday, cutting 5% off their value early in the day.

Admiral does not sell customer data, although if one of its policyholders suffers an injury in an accident which was not their fault it will put them in touch with legal help.

It said referral fees accounted for around 6% of its UK car insurance profits.

The Association of British Insurers – which speaks on behalf of leading insurers – said it welcomed the announcement.

Underground fears

Continue reading the main story

They are bribes and add an unnecessary cost to litigation.”

Peter Lodder QCChairman of the Bar

Director General Otto Thoresen said: “We are very pleased that the government has listened to the insurance industry’s campaign for a ban on referral fees.

“They add no value and encourage spurious and exaggerated personal injury claims.

“It is important that the ban must be watertight and apply across the board.

“Banning referral fees is an important first step in tackling our dysfunctional compensation system, and needs to be accompanied by a reduction in legal costs and action to tackle whiplash if honest customers are to benefit from these reforms.”

Chairman of the Bar, Peter Lodder QC, said referral fees had “no place in a fair and open justice system”.

“They are bribes and add an unnecessary cost to litigation.”

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers vice-president Karl Tonks said there was a concern that a blanket ban could push the transactions underground.

“The really important thing is for there to be transparency, so that the injured person, the consumer knows what’s happening and their details are only passed on to anybody with their express consent.”

He said his members would welcome a ban on accident victims being approached to make claims by cold-callers.

“Solicitors are robustly regulated in this, we simply cannot and do not do it. Others are not so well regulated.”

However, the Claims Standards Council, which represents claim management businesses, said the proposals will have “no impact whatsoever on the issues that concern the public like data protection and cold calling, unsolicited text messages or insurance fraud”.

Chairman Darren Werth said: “Those involved in helping claimants access justice do not like these abuses any more than the industry’s worst critics.”

With Access for Justice Action Group, it proposed making insurers justify their fees to a regulator, prohibiting approaches to a claimant without permission, and banning financial inducements in adverts just for making a claim.

Universal definition ‘lacking’

Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter said Labour supported the ban, particularly when applied to road accidents, but had some reservations.

“It is strange that the Ministry of Justice is seeking to ban all referral fees when the government themselves admit that there is no universal definition of what constitutes a referral fee.”

Mr Djanogly said finding a definition was “challenge” for him, but he was hoping to get it included in the legal aid bill, possibly by Easter next year.

Meanwhile, the Office of Fair Trading said it was putting motor insurance under the spotlight after drivers had seen premiums rise by 40% on average in a year.

In 2009, the number of road accidents involving personal injury was 31% down on the average for 1994-98.

But the cost of personal injury claims has doubled from £7bn to £14bn in the past decade and motor insurance premiums have risen at least 30% in the last year.