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The Road Traffic Accident (RTA) portal was brought in for low value RTA claims, valued between £1,000 and £10,000 initially, and now the upper limit is £25,000. Most whiplash cases will fall within these brackets and will follow the three stage procedure which is outlined below.

Stage 1…

Stage one of the process provides notification of the claim to defendants and insurers. This is done by sending a Claim Notification Form (CNF) to either the insurer after the Claimant or Claimant’s solicitor has completed the statement of truth. It is important for the Claimant’s solicitor to complete every box in the CNF to obtain their fees.
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Whiplash is usually a lot more complicated than most people think. If you have never suffered from it, you probably don’t have much regard for a person making a whiplash claim. But if you have or are suffering from it, you’ll know it is a real injury and it can be an absolute pain. I’ve had it myself.

So if you want to make a whiplash personal injury compensation claim, how much should you receive? Is it worth making a whiplash claim?
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Given that whiplash claims are fairly common, you’d think this might be a simple question to answer. But the thing is whiplash can affect different people in very different ways. Some people could suffer for a mere few weeks, whereas some may have problems for months, and some may have problems for years.

From a legal perspective, there are normally three categories you can put this injury in to – minor, moderate, and severe. Now, what your doctor or a medical professional tells you is minor or severe is not the same definition as ours. So if your doc tells you that you have a severe case of whiplash, that doesn’t mean you will get the payouts that attract a severe whiplash claim by legal definition.
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Whiplash has been in the news a lot recently with many tabloids and media organisations making unfounded comments about the effect that this injury has on people. Unfortunately, it is this type of advertisement that can make people very wary and uncomfortable when thinking of claiming for whiplash, but this should not be the case- whiplash can be incredibly debilitating and can affect people severely; especially if they are already suffering from a pre-existing condition.

Of course any settlement that you will receive following a claim for whiplash will come down to your medical evidence and your personal circumstances as everyone will be affected differently. For example; someone who is employed in a position that involves heavy labour may not be able to return to work as quickly as someone who has an office job- meaning that they will suffer greater financial loss because of the injury and therefore will wish to claim further special damages for loss of earnings. No solicitor should be able to confirm to you at the beginning of a case what you definitely will get, and although we get many people asking we will always advise the same; settlements are different in every single case (sometimes even if it is just by 1p) and therefore it will come down to YOUR medical evidence and YOUR circumstances.
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Settle quickly, out of sight, out of mind, pre-medical offers; these are the types of phrases that insurers think of straight away when they hear of a personal injury claim from a claimant who does not have legal representation. Now we would not wish to seem like we are just bad mouthing insurers because of competition reasons as this simply is not the case! We just know from our extensive experience in the area of personal injury claiming that they do unfortunately try and take advantage of claimants who do not understand the proper legal system that is in place.

Unfortunately, insurers also tend to bad mouth us to people with phrases such as “high legal fees” “long court action” and “unnecessary middlemen” – trust us this is not the case.

And the term “middlemen” for lawyers is a joke!
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If you have been involved in a general road accident at speeds of less than 30mph or so, you can probably answer this question yourself; because you’re probably suffering from a case of minor whiplash.

Most people involved in general road accidents will fall within the minor whiplash category from a legal perspective. What we define as a minor whiplash injury and what your doctor defines as a minor whiplash injury can be two very, very different things. A lot of people are told by their GP or by a medical professional that they are “suffering from a severe case of whiplash.” That does not mean that the legal definition of severe will apply, as this is reserved for the really severe cases.

So what is classed as a minor whiplash injury? What sort of symptoms will you suffer from?
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Most of us will have heard of a whiplash injury. It is a real injury which is compensatable, despite the bad stigma surrounding it. If you have ever sustained a whiplash type injury, whether it is to your neck, back or shoulders, you will be aware that it can be very painful. The real difficulty surrounding whiplash is that there is no clear medical diagnosis. If you go and see your GP following a road accident, perhaps due to experiencing back pain or neck pain, your GP will most probably say that you have whiplash. There is no clear or technical diagnosis of the condition and the result is that insurers often think injured victims are faking or exaggerating injury.

There are some symptoms associated with whiplash, such as pain and stiffness, a burning sensation, reduced range of movement etc. However it is not the same as a broken bone for example. If a broken bone is suspected an x-ray will be taken and this will inform the doctor whether or not there is a broken bone. So there is a clear way to identify some injuries but there is no clear way to identify or diagnose whiplash.
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Whiplash injuries normally occur when a sudden movement occurs in your neck which causes it to move sharply. This movement can be forward, backwards, left or right. It is common for the injuries to occur as a result of an accident involving a car; however they can occur in other accidents such as sporting injuries or slips and trips.

What happens to my neck if I have whiplash?

When your neck has moved sharply, the tendons and ligaments in the neck can be damaged. Remember, your neck connects your head to your body so the tissue needs to be strong and flexible – but it has a limit.

It can take a long time for you to notice the symptoms of whiplash, in some cases it may take as long as 12 hours to develop. This means that the pain may not be noticed until a long time or in some cases the day after the accident.
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Whiplash is common, amounting for 76% of all bodily injury claims in the UK.  Whiplash is caused by a sudden impact or stop, which damages the tendons and ligaments in the neck, back, and shoulders. Whiplash can be caused by a sudden blow to the head or by head and shoulders suddenly being jolted forward. Whiplash is commonly suffered after Road traffic accidents.

Moderate whiplash symptoms:

• Tenderness
• Stiffness
• Headaches
• Pin and needles
• Vulnerability  to further trauma

All whiplash needs to be assessed by a medical expert. A detailed medical report will be needed to show the extent of suffering and to assess the severity of the condition. The medical report looks into the longevity of the condition and loss of amenity you have suffered as a result of the injury. There needs to be strong medical evidence.
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For most road accident personal injury compensation claims in the UK, it’s the lawyers that have to make the first offer to the insurance company to settle the claim. Before, and in many other types of claims such as accidents at work or slips and trips, we provide the other side with medical evidence and losses information and invite them to make an offer for settlement to us.

But now, due to legal reforms that came in to force from April 2010, we have to make the first offer to the other side when we provide the medical evidence and losses information.
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