OIC Portal Data Published

The government has released the first official report into the operation of the the OIC portal for small injury claims this morning.

The data covers the period from 1 June (the date the portal was launched) to the end of August. It is too early for concrete conclusions as to how the portal is working, but it is clear that the well-publicised problems with the portal is reflected in the headline data. In all, just under 46,000 claims have been submitted to the OIC, of which just 4,331 were from unrepresented claimants (LiPs).

Only 436 claims have proceeded through to settlement, less than 1% of the total. This suggests that 1) litigants in person are finding the portal impossible to navigate without help and 2) even represented claimants are struggling to get through the process to get their claims settled. Around 11% of submitted claims have had liability denied, which means they exit the portal and have to proceed via the courts. A further 22,000 are awaiting a decision on liability.

The is no data in the report in respect of Annex C and D (relating to credit hire), officially called non-protocol vehicle costs, so we don’t don’t have a clear picture of how the credit hire elements of claims are proceeding at this juncture.

The MoJ says it is happy with the success of the portal to date. The rest of the industry – both claimant and defendant sides – may perhaps take a different view.

A link to the report is here.

Any questions please email matt.rowland@thecho.co.uk