The Road Traffic Accident Protocol was brought in to force on the 30th April 2013. The protocol brought in a fixed costs system, meaning law firms could no longer cover what is ‘reasonable’ from the other side. If a claim occurred in England and Wales on or after 30th April 2013, and is valued between £1,000 and £10,000, the protocol would be used. As of the 31st of July 2013, the upper limit was increased so that claims with a value of up to £25,000 can now be processed using the protocol.
What happens to a claim being processed under the Protocol?
The aim of the protocol is to make your claim easier, quicker and more efficient. There are three main stages to the process.
Stage 1 – A Claim Notification Form (CNF) must be completed and submitted through the online portal, so that the claim details can be sent across to the defendant’s insurers. They then have a total of 15 working days to respond to the claim. In this time, they can either admit or deny liability. If liability is admitted, your claim will continue on to the next stage of the protocol. If liability is denied, your claim will no longer continue under the protocol and will return back to the old system.
Stage 2 – Medical evidence will be submitted with an offer for settlement. This must be agreed or negotiated. The defendant’s insurers have a 35 working day total consideration period. The 35 days consists of 15 days to consider the stage 2 settlement pack, and make an offer. The remainder of the 35 days is for negotiation (this period can be extended if both parties agree). If an offer is made in five days or less before the end of the total consideration period, there will be a further five days after the end of the initial consideration period to consider that offer – in this time, no further offers can be made. If you are suffering financial difficulty an interim payment can be requested at this stage.
Stage 3 – Your car accident claim will only progress to this stage if it has still not been settled. This usually occurs when settlement amount cannot be agreed. In this instance the claim will go to court, where the judge will then access the amount of damages to be awarded.
