DCA finally decide on £1000 for personal injury small claims limit

The DCA announced this week that they will not be considering adjusting the small claims limit for personal injury claims which is currently at £1000 - 25th April 2007

Following recent consultations with both sides of the personal injury claims divide, Charles Falconer this week announced that the DCA did not consider it appropriate for the personal injury small claims limit of £1000 to be increased.

This hugely important decision came as a disappointment for insurers and the defendant based lobbyists who have been pushing for an increase in the ceiling for some time.

The reason for the consultation was that many on the defendant side felt that the current level allowed solicitors to unfairly claim costs for claims that might have been settled more quickly and more cheaply without legal representation.  The general argument was that insurers could and would deal with claimants directly, ensuring a quick and efficient resolution to "smaller" injury claims.

The problem with such a system, and something we at The Claims Connection have long argued, is that insurers would simply not offer a fair deal to all claimants. Insurance claims departments have a number of key objectives and one important aim is to save money. This is completely at odds with the suggestion that they would offer fair and reasonable access to justice for injured claimants.

The DCA did not accept that allowing claimants to go without representation in pursuing personal injury claims, would serve to improve the current system. Many "low value" claims can actually involve quite serious pain & suffering (minor fractures fall into this bracket) and the claimants would be at the mercy of the insurer claims personnel.

People suffering Injuries in a road accident, accounting for the majority of simple personal injury cases would have been drastically affected.

Furthermore the advice platforms such as Citizens Advice and other free services, would be inundated with requests for help. They would simply not cope with the volumes of enquiries in what is a specialist area of law.

This decision is a victory for common sense.

More information can be found on the DCA official website: