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Shock new figures show that the volume of whiplash claims has shot up by a third over the past three years, Insurance Times can reveal.
Figures obtained by an Insurance Times Investigation from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 571,111 whiplash claims were registered with the Compensation Recovery Unit in 2010-11.
This figure, which equals around 1600 new whiplash claims a day, represents a 10% increase on the previous year’s figure of 518,563.
It is also a one-third jump on the widely quoted figure of 432,000 whiplash claims in the ABI’s 2009 whiplash report.
The statistics have been uncovered as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the claims process which begins this week.
Reflecting this wider increase, between 2007 and 2010, the number of new whiplash claims received by Allianz increased from 14,266 to 19,732.
These rises occurred against a backdrop of a fall from 247,780 to 208,648 in the number of all road traffic accidents reported to the police, according to Department for Transport statistics.
The new whiplash figures have emerged as parliament prepares for next week’s debate on ex-justice secretary Jack Straw’s ten minute rule bill to tighten up motor insurance regulation, including a ban on referral fees.
Responding to Insurance Times’s figures, Straw said: “These new figures on the rise in whiplash claims over the last three years, while startling, are sadly not surprising. Despite having safer roads, safer cars and less low speed collisions we continue to see an exponential rise in the level of whiplash claims.
“These, often fraudulent, claims are the single biggest factor in causing insurance premiums to rise and as such are an area I will be attempting to tackle head on in my forthcoming Ten Minute Rule Bill.”
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Medico Legal News Source : Insurance Times
