Insurers to dissect working party's draft code
Insurers and lawyers will meet this week to hammer out the fine detail of a new code of practice that could streamline the claims process for higher value claims, and ultimately reduce insurers' legal costs.
A draft code for dealing with personal injury claims has been put together by a working party of claimant and insurer lawyers as well as insurance company representatives.
The code is designed to speed up the claims process by highlighting at an earlier stage the main issues and potential areas of agreement. It will apply to complex personal injury claims or those over £50,000 in value - known as 'multi-track' claims.
This week, the draft document will for the first time be put before a wider audience of insurers to gauge their views on the proposals.
Forum of Insurance Lawyers (Foil) president Neil McLaughlin said: "The code is a route map from cradle to grave of the stages needed to go through in litigation - how they can be completed proportionately and in an environment of trust."
McLaughlin added: "The driver is focusing resources to foster an environment where the adversarial culture is taken out of the process.
"One of the benefits is that it will go some way to resolve some of the delays in [insurers] admitting liability."
AXA claims director David Williams said: "This is a tremendous opportunity to improve the speed of resolution of claims and reduce claims costs. But the devil will be in the detail."
A spokeswoman for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said there was "still work to be done" in developing the code.
