Have you suffered from whiplash, and possibly other injuries, as a result of being in a car accident that wasn’t your fault? If so, please continue reading this guide, as we talk about the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 and how it affects the way car accident claims are made.
Key Things To Know About Whiplash Claims:
- The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 may affect your road traffic accident claim if you are over the age of 17, have sustained whiplash injuries, and were injured as a driver or passenger of a vehicle.
- Over 1,500 whiplash claims are made every day in the UK.
- Road traffic accident compensation can cover your physical and mental suffering, as well as any money you have lost as a result of this suffering.
- Our specialist solicitors could help you claim for whiplash on a No Win No Fee basis.
Whiplash is one of the most common car accident injuries and can be very uncomfortable and long-lasting. If you are suffering due to someone else being negligent on the road, please have a chat with us today. We can talk with you about your situation and give you clear advice on what you can do next. You could also be potentially connected with our specialist No Win No Fee solicitors, who have years of experience and have already won over £80 million in compensation for their clients.
Our contact services are completely free to use, and live 24/7:
- Call 0800 073 8804.
- Fill out the form on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
- Send a message into our live chat box feature on the screen.
Jump To A Section:
- The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021
- How Much Whiplash Compensation Could I Get Under The New Reforms?
- The Reason Why The Whiplash Regulations Were Introduced
- How Are The New Reforms Different To The Old Process?
- How Can I Make A Claim For The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021?
- Get Legal Expert’s Help With Your Whiplash Claim
- More Information
The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021
The way certain road traffic accident claims in England and Wales are made were recently changed by the Whiplash Reform Programme.
Now, if you match this criteria, the whiplash injuries you have are valued by the fixed tariffs set out in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021:
- You were a driver or passenger of a vehicle when you were injured.
- You are over the age of 17.
- Your injuries (such as whiplash) have a value of £5,000 or less.
- The accident occurred in England or Wales.
If you have sustained any injuries that are not covered in the above tariffs, they will be valued in the traditional way. Additionally, if your injuries combined have an overall value of more than £5,000, then your claim will be made in the traditional way, but the above tariffs may still apply.
How Do I Know If I Can Make A Whiplash Injury Claim?
You may be able to make a whiplash injury claim if you meet this eligibility criteria:
- You were owed a duty of care on the roads.
- This duty of care was breached because a road user was negligent.
- You sustained an injury, such as whiplash, as a result of this breach.
All road users owe one another a duty of care while they are on the roads. To comply with their duty of care, all road users must ensure one another’s safety by following the rules set out in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and The Highway Code.
Here are a few ways a road user could breach their duty of care and potentially cause another road user to suffer an injury, such as whiplash:
- A drunk driver fails to realise the distance between their vehicle and the traffic ahead, leading to a rear shunt collision with the car in front.
- A driver fails to abide by the traffic lights, and runs through a red light. This leads to a T-bone collision with another car at the 4-way junction.
- A driver is speeding. So, when the car in front of them starts braking, they cannot slow down in time, leading to a rear-end collision.
If you believe you meet the above road traffic claims eligibility criteria, we encourage you to contact us today. It is absolutely free to do so, and after having a quick chat about your circumstances, we will be able to confirm your compensation claim eligibility.
How Much Whiplash Compensation Could I Get Under The New Reforms?
Under the new Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, whiplash injuries that last between 18-24 months are generally valued at £4,345 if psychological damage has been suffered as well.
However, a whiplash injury claim could be worth more if additional injuries and losses are taken into consideration, such as loss of amenity and financial losses. So, for a more accurate idea of how much you could be eligible to claim for whiplash, it is best to have a chat with us.
All car accident claims are valued differently depending on two heads of claim:
- General damages – the physical and psychological injuries you have suffered as a result of the car accident.
- Special damages – the financial losses you have suffered as a result of your physical and psychological injuries, such as loss of earnings.
The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) is a document often used by legal professionals to help value the worth of general damages. This document contains different physical and psychological injuries, with guideline compensation brackets for each.
For the table below, we have included some whiplash injuries from the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, plus some additional injuries from the JCG, which you may have suffered alongside whiplash.
Please note that the top figure is not from either of these documents, and keep in mind that all of these figures are a guideline and cannot be guaranteed.
| Injuries | Severity | Guideline compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious road traffic accident injuries plus special damages | Serious | Up to £500,000+ |
| Chest | Traumatic injury to chest or lungs (b) | £80,240 to £122,850 |
| Simple injury that causes some permanent tissue damage (d) | £15,370 to £21,920 | |
| Arm | Injuries that result in permanent and substantial disablement (b) | £47,810 to £73,050 |
| Simple forearm fracture (d) | £8,060 to £23,430 | |
| Whiplash injuries with psychological damage | Lasts between 18-24 months | £4,345 |
| Lasts between 15-18 months | £3,700 | |
| Whiplash injuries | Lasts between 18-24 months | £4,215 |
| Lasts between 15-18 months | £3,005 |
If you don’t see the injuries you suffered on the table, why not give us a call? An advisor from our team will be happy to discuss the potential value of your injuries as well as provide advice on what items you could be reimbursed for under special damages.
The Reason Why The Whiplash Regulations Were Introduced
The reason why the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 were introduced was to save a significant amount of money for insurance companies, which then allows them to invest that money back into their customers.
According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), over 1,500 whiplash claims are made every day in the UK, which used to cost the insurance industry more than £2 billion each year. This added about £90 to the average annual motor insurance premium.
By introducing the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, the Government hoped to decrease the volume and costs of exaggerated claims as well as reducing annual motor insurance premiums.
How Are The New Reforms Different To The Old Process?
Here are differences between the old process and the new Whiplash Reform Programme:
- The small claims limit for general damages has risen now from £1,000 to £5,000 for road traffic accident injuries.
- Whiplash injuries and soft-tissue injuries now have a fixed compensation tariff, banded by severity.
- Low-value small claims for motor vehicle accidents are now made in a different manner.
- In a low-value claim, people can no longer recover their legal costs, which is now deducted from settlements up to £5,000.
- Some minor injuries are now classed as low-value, such as simple fractures where there are no complications.
- Whiplash claims cannot be settled unless there is medical evidence of the injury.
However, as we have previously stated, not all road traffic injury claims are affected by these changes.
If you have suffered whiplash and want to learn more about how the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 may affect your compensation claim, please have a chat with us today about your circumstances.
How Can I Make A Claim For The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021?
The first step to begin a claim under the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 is to contact us. Simply tell us how you suffered your whiplash injuries, and we can evaluate whether you’re eligible for compensation.
After that, you don’t need to worry, as you will be guided through each step of the claims process and will be told what you need to do next. Simply leave it to us, and we will do the complicated legal work for you so that you can focus on recovery.
However, you must contact us about starting a claim within the claim’s limitation period. This limitation period is 3 years, running from the accident date, as per the Limitation Act 1980.
This 3-year time limit to begin a whiplash claim applies to all claimants, except for those who:
- Are younger than 18.
- Do not have their full mental capacity.
This is because the above claimants are unable to make their own claim.
In these cases, a litigation friend can be appointed to start a whiplash claim on the claimant’s behalf. But, a litigation friend can only step in up until the claimant can make a claim for themselves, which happens when the claimant either:
- Turns 18 (meaning they will have 3 years to claim from their 18th birthday).
- Gains their full mental capacity (meaning they will have 3 years to claim from the date of recovery).
If you would like to know more about making a whiplash claim on someone else’s behalf, please feel free to contact us about this today.
What Evidence Do I Need To Make A Whiplash Claim:
Having evidence is a crucial part of the whiplash claims process.
Here are the types of evidence that can prove you have suffered negligence and can best support your whiplash claim:
- Dash-cam footage of the incident.
- CCTV footage of the incident.
- Contact and vehicle details from the negligent driver, including their insurance details.
- Contact details from potential witnesses to the accident. Your solicitor can ask them to give a statement later on in the claims process.
- Copies of your medical records that show what injuries you have sustained from the accident, and how severe they are.
- A diary where you have recorded your symptoms and what treatment you’re receiving.
If you connect with one of our solicitors to help you with your whiplash injury claim, they will be able to help collect your evidence for you. This is just one of the many things provided in our solicitors’ services.
Get Legal Expert’s Help With Your Whiplash Claim
Our No Win No Fee solicitors at Legal Expert can help you in numerous ways with your whiplash claim. They can:
- Help collect your evidence.
- Set you up with rehabilitation specialists.
- Negotiate to ensure that all of your suffering is covered within the compensation.
- Send any correspondence on your behalf.
- Guide you through each step of the claims process without the complex legal jargon.
- Help you no matter where you are based in the country.
- Use their years of high-level training and knowledge to ensure that the claims process gets handled as smoothly as possible.
- Find legal representation for you if the case gets sent to court (which will be unlikely, as most whiplash claims are settled out of court).
Because all of our solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis (specifically through a Conditional Fee Agreement), this basically means you pay nothing for your solicitor’s services unless the claim is successful. Even when the claim is successful, your solicitor’s service charges will just get taken out of your compensation as a ‘success fee’. The ‘success fee’ is a percentage, which is always legally capped to ensure that the majority of the whiplash compensation goes to you.
Contact Our Solicitors
Contact us today to find out whether you’re eligible to make a whiplash claim and connect with our specialist solicitors. Our solicitors strive to give you the best customer service and to ensure that the claims process is as easy as possible for you. Please feel free to discuss your circumstances with us at any time:
- Call 0800 073 8804.
- Fill out the form on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
- Send a message into our live chat box feature on the screen.
More Information
For similar information regarding compensation claims, please browse a few of our other guides below:
- Read some FAQs about personal injury claims.
- Everything you need to know about car accident law.
- How to claim compensation on behalf of a child.
Additionally, it may be useful for you to browse through these other pages:
- Gov.UK – information about vehicle insurance.
- Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) – information about making a car accident claim against an uninsured or untraceable driver.
- NHS – how to treat whiplash.
Thank you for reading our guide all about the new Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 and its changes. If you want to make a claim enquiry after suffering whiplash in a car accident, please feel free to contact us at any time. Our friendly advisors are here to help 24/7.
