MoJ claim reforms will spark 'nuisance call epidemic'

The Ministry of Justice’s changes to personal injury compensation payments for victims of UK road accidents will mean nuisance calls and texts about PI claims will reach “epidemic proportions”, according to one legal trade body.
The move sees the Government change the formula for calculating compensation awards to accident victims, while a different set of MoJ reforms will sharply reduce the compensation available to the victims of whiplash injuries sustained through road accidents.
They will also no longer be able to claim for the cost of legal help for cases valued at less £5,000, which will in future be handled by small claims courts.
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers president Neil Sugarman said: “Expensive motor repairs and repeated hikes in insurance premium tax are both major factors in the cost of motor premiums, yet the Government is fanatical about suppressing the right to claim for legitimate injuries instead.”
He added that forcing more claims into the small claims court system would trigger a huge rise in PI marketing, which already dominates complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Earlier this year, the Law Society has now joined forces with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society to demand a ban on PI cold calls.
They insist the Government “missed the opportunity to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, unsolicited and unwanted marketing messages, plus spam texts for personal injury” when it announced it was moving the Telephone Preference Service from Ofcom to the Information Commissioners’ Office.