Guidance

Official Injury Claim (OIC) Advisory Group Meeting: 25 October 2023 13:00 – 15:00

Updated 18 March 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Attendees:

Ministry of Justice (Chair and secretariat) (MoJ)

Motor Insurers’ Bureau (OIC service operators) (MIB)

Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC)

Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) 

Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS)        

Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL)                

Association of British Insurers (ABI)                 

HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS)

MedCo                                                  

Item 1: Introduction

The Chair welcomed attendees and outlined the agenda for the meeting.

The Chair also updated on the action from the previous meeting - the ABI report on compensators’ reasons for exits has now been shared with all Advisory Group members. Members are asked to provide any feedback, and to indicate whether they feel a further discussion would be helpful.

ACTION POINT: Members to provide feedback on reason for exit selection.

Item 2: OIC data and performance update

MIB provided an overview of the latest quarterly operational data, which was published on the OIC website on 10 October 2023.

A helpful discussion was held in relation to:

1. Monthly claim volumes
2. Exit trends for represented claimants
3. Court pack production

MIB had added some additional information to the monthly claim volumes slide to include the working days for each month and the volume of CPL claims as a percentage of RTA PI claims in total.

One member raised that CPL has looked at gathering data on the number of claims which started in OIC first, and it is relatively low in number (around 200).

MIB asked whether an additional line could be included in the monthly claims volume slide to show cases coming from OIC to CPL. The CPL Board will be asked for authority for this data to be used.

Item 3: Medical Reporting Consultation

MoJ officials updated members on the Medical Reporting Consultation which closed on 10 October.

When the Whiplash Reforms were implemented, a number of changes were made to the Medical Reporting process for low-value RTA-related personal injury claims. The MoJ decided that it was an appropriate time to consult on several affected areas relating to the provision of good quality, independent medical evidence.

A brief summary was given in respect of the number and type of consultation responses received and, on the questions asked about the OIC process for obtaining medical evidence. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in January 2024.

During a discussion on whether claimants/representatives should wait for a liability decision before instructing a medical expert, a point was raised regarding legal privilege in the context of the disclosure of a medical report. It was agreed that this would be discussed further outside the meeting as required.

MoJ officials expressed that they are happy to facilitate further conversations with representative bodies.

ACTION POINT: The member who raised the privilege point to have a follow up conversation with MoJ.

Item 4: OIC Roundtables – Stakeholder Suggestions

The item was introduced by MoJ officials. MIB held roundtables in June 2023 where they received feedback from professional users regarding policy, behaviours and the technical operation of the service.

MIB provided an update on the upcoming technical updates which will be deployed in November 2023. The relevant API code has already been released to users.

From 2024, OIC will be moving to an annual code release schedule. This will include an update to introduce prompts for claims approaching the end of their limitation period.

An overview was provided of the MoJ’s response to the specific policy points raised at the roundtables. There are four issues that the MoJ requires some further information on or the rationale behind these points:

1. Time limit for responding to a liability challenge;
2. Introduction of dispute resolution mechanisms;
3. Time limit for medical report disclosure; and
4. Enhancement of the transfer process.

One member raised that, anecdotally, there seems to be an increased appetite for pre-issue dispute resolution.

Members were reminded that a response to the roundtable suggestions will be published on the MIB website.

ACTION POINT: Advisory Group members to gather further feedback and additional comments from their sector/members and send this to MoJ.  

Item 5: Dormant and post-limitation claims

MoJ introduced the item. Work has been taking place to better understand how cases are progressing through OIC. It has become apparent that a proportion of claims are dormant and unlikely to progress further. This skews OIC data, including that on the number of live, outstanding claims and the settlement rate.

MoJ has also considered what should happen to a claim which is dormant and passes its limitation period (3 years for personal injury claims).

MIB presented data on the probable number of dormant claims. Data capability has been built to filter out (but not delete) seemingly dormant claims, to give a clearer picture of outstanding caseload. As of October 2023, the number of dormant claims has grown.

As stated in the data publication, MIB plans to share this information from January 2024 as part of the monthly and quarterly data publications.

MoJ then provided an overview of the actions to be taken regarding dormant claims which pass their limitation period, principally that claims still dormant 3 years and 3 months after registration will be archived, but not deleted.

A helpful discussion then took place with the following points being raised:

1. MoJ said that the three month “buffer” would provide a safety net and allow for “out of time” applications to the court.

2. Regular notifications will be introduced on OIC at six, three and one month ahead of the end of the limitation period.

3. One member raised an issue relating to s11(5) of the Limitation Act 1980. It was agreed that this would be discussed separately.

4. As claims will not be deleted at the expiry of the limitation period, but archived in accordance with OIC data retention policies, a claimant would not be prevented from making an application to the court to issue a post-limitation claim.

Item 6: Member feedback

The Chair introduced the item and welcomed member feedback from their respective sectors.

The following point was raised by one member:

1. A member of one of the representative bodies raised an issue brought to their attention by a member, regarding the selection of reasons for exit by claimants. MIB confirmed that they were content to look into this further.

ACTION POINT: MIB to meet with the ABI member who raised 26(a) to understand the issue raised.

Item 7: Next steps and AOB

The Chair reminded members that they could contact the MoJ with any further points arising.

MoJ were asked whether there were plans to communicate the roundtable policy points more widely. MoJ confirmed that they would be communicating the points they sought more information on, but that the usual principle of not sharing information or data which is not otherwise in the public domain applies. MoJ is content to take questions from people wider than this group.

The MoJ summarised the actions arising and next steps, and confirmed that:

1. the minutes will be circulated to members for approval before publication on Gov.uk; and
2. the next meeting is scheduled for 17 January 2024.