One expert has categorised the government attack on the UK’s so-called personal injury compensation culture as a scam recently.
The government recently announced it has begun to formulate plans to ban personal injury lawyers from offering cash incentives to people in order to make accident claims after being involved in such an incident. David Cameron referred to the resultant rise of a compensation culture as a damaging force.
If people can separate themselves from any notion of personal responsibility then the number of personal injury lawyers poised to swoop in with an accident claim on even the slightest pretext must be curbed, the prime minister added.
However one industry expert has taken affront to Mr Cameron’s comments. Stating that the compensation culture is a myth fueled by the insurance industry, the expert stated that it was perpetrated to get companies and councils to take out more insurance cover.
Other than road accident claims there are less than every type of personal injury claim according to government statistics stated the expert. The only entities set to gain from fears of a compensation culture are therefore insurers. Insurance companies can feel free to raise their premiums as demand for insurance cover rises.
Industry experts do agree that the government’s plan to ban such adverts that claim to promise cash advances if legal firms take clients’ cases. However the governmental action has been criticised as diverting attention away from the more important issue of ensuring that those genuinely injured get the proper levels of compensation.
Experts caution against cutting access to justice by dressing it up as an attack against a nonexistent compensation culture. The only result in a reduction of access to justice will only increase the profits for insurance companies even further, they warn.