The Association of British Insurers’ (ABI) call for reform of Britain’s compensation culture laws has been slammed by the Access to Justice Action Group (Ajag).
The move comes in repsonse to the ABI's report, Tackling the Compensation Culture : The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which has called for action to tackle the aggressive activities of some claims management firms and measures be taken on fraudulent whiplash claims and referral fees for personal injury cases.
Arguing that 23% of road accident victims do not bother to claim and only 52% claim for an accident at work, even when they each know another person is to blame, Ajag co-ordinator Andrew Dismore claimed that there was no such thing as a compensation culture.
He said that while the ABI routinely alleged fraud, the proven number of cases was comparatively small. He cited the Experian Fraud Index which he argued confirmed the real figures: only 12 in every 10,000 applications and claims counted as fraud.
The government's proposals, promoted by the ABI, would affect access to justice for up to 600,000 people a year, he added.