Official Injury Claim Portal

The new OIC portal for minor injury claims was finally launched to an unsuspecting public on 31 May – over five years after the measures were first announced, in 2015. The portal was described by the MoJ  in its press release launching the service as ‘easy to use,’ but it is already clear that plenty of remedial work will be required.

For example, around 130,00 injured people won’t be able to use the portal at all, because they have more than one injury. So-called hybrid injuries are beyond the scope of the portal to manage, meaning they will sit outside the process and be subject to negotiations between the injured party (and their representatives) and the compensator.

We know that processing the NVC (non-vehicle protocol costs) elements of the portal is complicated, and will require close co-operation between defendant and claimant parties to ensure the consumer doesn’t risk detriment by omission.

It is still early days of course, but as more claims enter the portal, we are keen to hear from you on how it’s working for you and your customers. The MoJ is in the process of setting up an advisory panel to provide feedback on the portal, and the CHO has been invited to participate when specific issues of concern arise.

With this in mind, it is essential that you pass through to us details of your experiences with the portal, good bad or indifferent. These case studies will enable us to give valuable feedback to the MoJ, and importantly, hold their feet to the fire if the OIC doesn’t work in the interests of our industry’s customers.

We cannot scrub the portal, but we can ensure that it does the job ministers promised it would.

Your help in providing us with your first hand experience is critical, so please let us know via Matt Rowland at matt.rowland@thecho.co.uk