Personal injury questions — plain answers

A personal injury claim is a formal process through which someone who has been injured due to another person's fault seeks financial compensation. The compensation reflects both the injury itself and any financial losses — such as lost earnings, travel costs, or treatment expenses.

In England and Wales, most road traffic accident injury claims with a value under £5,000 now go through the Official Injury Claim portal — a government-run online system designed so people can manage their own claim without needing a solicitor.

Not necessarily. The OIC portal was designed so that people can manage low-value road traffic accident claims themselves.

The process itself does not change depending on whether you use a solicitor. What changes is who manages it.

For straightforward cases where liability is not disputed and the injury is minor, the portal is manageable without professional support. A solicitor becomes more relevant when liability is denied, injuries are more serious, or the claim includes significant financial losses.

It can — even when the accident was not your fault. Insurers are permitted to take into account your involvement in an accident when calculating future premiums, regardless of who was responsible.

The extent of any impact varies by insurer and by how the claim was handled. This is worth clarifying directly with your own insurer before proceeding.

Possibly. The legal principle here is known as contributory negligence. If both parties contributed to the accident, compensation may still be awarded — but it may be reduced to reflect the claimant's share of responsibility.

Whether this applies, and to what degree, depends on the specific circumstances of the accident.

In most cases, three years from the date of the accident. This is known as the limitation period. It applies to starting proceedings — not to when the claim is resolved. The process itself can take many months, so starting well before the deadline matters.

Not in the same way. Where the injured person was under 18 at the time of the accident, the three-year limitation period runs from their 18th birthday — not the accident date. A parent or guardian can also bring a claim on behalf of a child before they reach 18.

Usually, yes. The three-year period runs from the date of the accident, even if symptoms appeared later. Where injuries were genuinely not apparent at the time and only became known later, a concept called the date of knowledge may be relevant — meaning the period could run from when the injury first became apparent rather than the accident date. This is a specific legal question where the circumstances matter.

Once a claim has been formally submitted and registered through the OIC portal, the limitation period is generally satisfied — the process has been started within time. The deadlines that now apply are internal to the claims process itself: the 30 working day liability window, the offer response periods, and so on.

Once submitted, the at-fault party's insurer (called the 'compensator' in the OIC process) has 30 working days to make a liability decision. During this period it is normal for there to be no visible progress — silence is the expected experience, not a sign that something has gone wrong.

After liability is decided, the claim moves to the medical stage, followed by a settlement offer from the compensator.

Yes — completely. After submission, the compensator has 30 working days to make a liability decision. During this window, there is no obligation on them to communicate, and the portal does not send frequent updates. Silence at this stage is the process working as designed.

Liability refers to legal responsibility for the accident. When the compensator admits liability, they are accepting that their policyholder was responsible.

An admission of liability does not mean the claim is settled. It is the start of the next stage — gathering medical evidence and agreeing on the compensation amount.

A denial of liability means the compensator does not accept that their policyholder was responsible for the accident. A denied claim does not automatically end the process — the portal has a formal escalation route for disputed liability cases.

Denied liability claims are more complex and this is the stage where specialist support tends to become most relevant.

Most straightforward OIC claims resolve within 6 to 12 months from submission. Typical stages and timescales:

• Liability decision: up to 30 working days after submission
• Medical appointment: typically 4–8 weeks after liability is admitted
• Medical report issued: several weeks after the appointment
• Settlement offer: usually within 20 working days of the offer being requested
• Negotiation and agreement: varies

Claims involving denied liability, serious injury, or significant financial losses take longer.

Periods of apparent inactivity are common at every stage. The most frequent reasons:

• The compensator is within their permitted response window
• A medical appointment is being arranged
• The medical report is being prepared — typically several weeks after the appointment
• The compensator is reviewing the report before making an offer

If the wait has gone significantly beyond the normal timeframes and there has been no communication, the portal has a formal escalation mechanism.

A medical report is produced by an independent medical expert — not your GP — following an examination of your injuries. It records the injuries, their severity, and the likely recovery period.

The report is not just evidence — it is the basis on which your claim is valued. The prognosis period stated in the report directly determines which compensation tariff band applies. The compensator uses it to calculate the settlement offer.

No. The medical examiner is an independent medical professional — typically a GP or specialist — instructed through an accredited agency. MedCo is the accreditation body for medical reporting organisations in OIC claims. The examiner has no financial interest in the outcome and is not employed by the insurer.

That said, the examiner sees the claimant once, for typically 20 to 40 minutes. They have no other basis for their assessment — which is why the account given during the examination matters.

The report can only reflect what is discussed during the appointment. The examiner sees the claimant once — they have no other basis for their assessment.

The completeness of the account given during the examination matters. Symptoms that fluctuate — better on some days, worse on others — are relevant to describe at their most significant, since the prognosis period should reflect the duration of meaningful impact. Financial and daily-life consequences of the injury are also relevant, as these inform both the report and any claim for financial losses.

Yes — before it is submitted. After your appointment, a draft copy of the report is issued for review. This is the opportunity to check accuracy. If symptoms are missing, underreported, or the prognosis period doesn't reflect the actual recovery experience, formal amendments can be raised.

Once the report is approved, it cannot be changed. The settlement offer will be based directly on it.

If the prognosis period in the report is shorter than the actual experience — for example, it records three months when symptoms lasted six — this directly reduces the tariff value and the settlement offer that follows.

Formal amendments can be raised before the report is submitted. This is done through the portal. The examiner considers the query and either amends the report or provides a reasoned response explaining why the original assessment stands.

Rarely. First offers reflect the minimum that can be justified under the tariff based on the medical report — without any upward negotiation. The portal was designed with a counter-offer mechanism precisely because negotiation is expected, not unusual.

Whether the first offer is appropriate depends on whether the medical report accurately reflected the injuries, whether all financial losses are included, and whether symptoms have fully resolved.

Ongoing symptoms, a medical report that does not reflect current condition, or financial losses not yet fully documented are all factors relevant to the timing of acceptance.

There is no obligation to accept an offer the moment it arrives. Once accepted, the claim is concluded permanently — it cannot be reopened, even if symptoms continue or worsen.

A settlement closes the claim permanently. There is no mechanism to reopen it after acceptance, even if symptoms continue or worsen after the claim is concluded. This is a structural feature of the process — acceptance is treated as a final resolution.

The process does not require claimants to accept an offer before their symptoms have resolved. Timing of acceptance is a decision that belongs to the claimant.

Through the OIC portal. The offer is rejected and a counter-offer submitted — a figure and a brief explanation of why the original offer is considered insufficient. Clarity and accuracy matter more than formal language.

The compensator then responds — typically within a few weeks. This process can run to two or four rounds before settlement is reached. If no agreement is reached, the matter can proceed to the Small Claims Court.

A gap of a few days to a week between offer and response is normal. If communication has stopped entirely for an extended period without explanation, the portal has a formal escalation mechanism. Keeping a record of all correspondence, dates, and the amounts of each offer and counter-offer is useful at this stage.

Payment is typically made by bank transfer within 7 to 14 days of the agreement being confirmed through the OIC portal. If 14 days pass without payment, the insurer can be contacted through the portal directly — and a record of that contact is worth keeping.

Under the OIC process, compensation typically has two components:

The tariff payment — covers pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by the injury. For OIC claims, this is set by a fixed government schedule based on injury type and prognosis period.

Special damages — covers financial losses caused by the accident: lost earnings, travel to appointments, prescriptions, physiotherapy. These are separate from the tariff and not capped by it.

The tariff is a government-set schedule of fixed values for specific injury types and recovery periods. For the most common OIC claims — whiplash and minor soft tissue injuries — the value is determined by the prognosis period stated in the medical report: how long symptoms were expected to last.

The tariff is a starting point. Financial losses are calculated separately and added on top.

Lost earnings as a result of the accident can be claimed as special damages, separate from the tariff payment. Payslips showing normal earnings and a letter from the employer confirming the absence and reason are the standard documentation.

Self-employed claimants can also claim lost earnings, though more supporting evidence — invoices, accounts, client records — is typically required.

Personal injury compensation in England and Wales is not subject to income tax, capital gains tax, or any other UK taxation as a general rule — the full amount awarded is received. Interest earned on compensation subsequently held in savings is taxable in the normal way.

Not immediately. In England and Wales, personal injury compensation is protected by the 52-week disregard rule — meaning it is not counted as capital when calculating means-tested benefits for 52 weeks from the date of first payment.

After 52 weeks, if the compensation remains in savings and pushes your total capital above £6,000, Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits may be affected. Above £16,000, most means-tested benefits stop entirely. PIP and DLA are not means-tested and are not affected at all.

One important detail: the 52-week clock starts from the first payment received in consequence of the injury — which includes any interim payment, not just the final settlement.

This practice — sometimes called 'third party capture' — involves the at-fault party's insurer making early contact, sometimes with a settlement offer, before a formal claim has been submitted.

It is legal. But it is not neutral. At that early stage, the full extent of injuries may not yet be known. Any offer made is based on limited information.

There is no obligation to deal directly with the other party's insurer, and no obligation to accept any early offer they make.

Insurers handle large volumes of claims and delays are common. There are permitted timeframes they must work within — and the OIC portal has a formal escalation mechanism available where those timeframes are not met.

If the wait has gone significantly beyond the normal windows and there has been no communication, the portal allows for escalation.

No. Any solicitor can be instructed, or the OIC portal claim can be handled independently. There is no obligation to use a solicitor recommended by your own insurer.

Solicitors recommended by insurers may have a commercial relationship with that insurer. This is relevant context when considering who to instruct.

A solicitor tends to add most value in specific circumstances: where liability has been denied, where injuries are serious, where the claim includes significant financial losses, or where the insurer is unresponsive or behaving unreasonably.

For straightforward, uncontested claims where liability is admitted and the injury is minor, many claimants manage the process without professional support.

In most cases, yes. Solicitors handling OIC claims typically work under a Conditional Fee Agreement — commonly known as no-win no-fee. Their fee is taken as a percentage of the settlement rather than charged upfront. For OIC portal claims, the amount that can be deducted is capped.

The specific terms vary by firm and it is worth understanding what percentage applies and what it is calculated on before signing anything.

Claimants are entitled to understand what is happening in their own claim. If repeated contact attempts have gone unanswered, putting the request in writing — by email where possible — and keeping a record of dates and attempts creates a clear trail.

Where this does not resolve the situation, a formal complaint can be raised with the firm. If the firm's complaints process does not resolve it, the Legal Ombudsman handles complaints about solicitors in England and Wales.

Completely. Understanding your own claim is always in your interest, regardless of whether you have representation. Knowing the stages, the timescales, and what the key decisions mean makes it easier to ask the right questions and follow what is happening.

ClaimTalk is designed for exactly this — to give claimants the context they need, whether they are proceeding alone or with professional support.

Solicitors in England and Wales are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Whether a firm or individual solicitor is authorised can be checked on the SRA's public register. Claims management companies are regulated separately, by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).