Why accident victims are reluctant to claim

Just a fifth of people who have suffered an accident are confident they know how to go about making a personal injury (PI) claim, research commissioned by National Accident Helpline (NAH) has found.

The YouGov poll also found that of 1,009 adults who have had an accident for which they could have potentially made a claim, 42% cited the existence of a ‘compensation culture’ as the reason they did not.

The research was at the core of a report, The Real Cost of Personal Injury, that is part of NAH’s lobbying against government plans to raise the small claims limit for PI from £1,000 to £5,000 and remove the right to compensation for pain and suffering in soft-tissue injuries.

Only a fifth are confiedent about claiming

Of those who made a claim, 26% were nervous about the process, 19% felt daunted and intimidated, while 10% worried about what others would think – just 22% felt confident about it.

As well as concern about the so-called compensation culture, the reasons given for not claiming were stress, nervousness about the process and a desire not to make trouble for anyone.

It found that 60% of people suffered financial implications as a result of their injury – with one in five losing out on earnings of £10,000 or more – while over a third had to take more than a month off work.

In fact, a fifth of those who did not claim reported loss of earnings.

The research also highlighted the emotional suffering and stress that victims suffer – half admitted they were anxious about how long they would take to recover, and one in five (20%) were worried they would not be able to pay their household bills.

Feelings of anger

Feelings of anger were common, with almost half (47%) feeling angry and frustrated with the person or company who caused their accident, and 54% left feeling their injury could have been avoided.

The report also tried to dispel the notion that people make claims for personal gain. Some 37% planned to use their compensation to replace lost earnings and 30% said it was to cover the cost of rehab and medication, while a fifth (21%) said they would pay off debts.

NAH managing director Simon Trott said: “We are also aware that the debate around compensation has become increasingly heated in recent years, and we have carried out our research to gain a better measure of the real cost of personal injury to an individual.

“Using our research, we will continue to work to ensure that people with legitimate cases are supported to get their lives back on track, and secure the justice they deserve. We want to make sure the voices of personal injury victims aren’t lost amongst the criticism of a perceived claims culture.”