Should you accept the offer?
Accepting closes the claim permanently. Understanding what that means changes what to look at first.
When a settlement offer arrives, the immediate question is whether the figure is correct — not whether it is fair in an abstract sense, but whether it reflects what the process is designed to produce for a claim like yours. This page explains what accepting means legally, when offers are made and why, what determines the correct figure, and what happens if you do not accept.
Acceptance is permanent and irreversible. Before accepting, two things are worth checking: whether the medical report accurately reflects the prognosis period — because that single figure determines the tariff band and therefore the offer — and whether all financial losses have been included. If both are correct, the offer reflects what the process produces for that claim. If either is wrong, accepting locks in the error. The portal provides options other than immediate acceptance. They exist for a reason.
The settlement offer is a direct output of the medical report. The prognosis period in the report determines the tariff band. The tariff band determines the injury element of the offer. A settlement offer in an OIC claim is not a negotiating position in the conventional sense — the injury compensation element is derived from the tariff band that applies to the prognosis period in the medical report. The insurer does not set a figure based on judgment — they apply the tariff. What they can influence is when the offer is made, what the offer includes, and how the special damages are assessed.
Most claimants receive an offer and face a straightforward question: is this figure what I should receive, or is something missing? Answering that question requires understanding how the figure was arrived at — not comparing it to what someone else received, or to a number seen online, but to what the tariff and the specific facts of the claim produce.
This page does not say whether to accept or decline any particular offer. It explains the mechanics of acceptance, the timing of offers, what determines whether a figure is correctly calculated, and what the alternatives to immediate acceptance are. Those are the things worth knowing before making the decision.
What accepting an offer actually means
Settlement in the OIC process is full and final. The legal consequence of acceptance is permanent.
When a settlement offer is accepted in an OIC claim, the claim closes on a full and final basis. This is a defined legal position: the settlement agreement extinguishes all rights to further compensation arising from that accident and those injuries. It does not matter whether symptoms continue after the settlement is paid, or whether the injury turns out to be more significant than the prognosis period suggested. Once accepted, the claim cannot be reopened.
This is not a feature of OIC claims specifically — it is how personal injury settlements work across the board. The finality of settlement exists because the compensator needs certainty that a closed claim will not generate further liability. Understanding this before accepting means the decision is made with its consequences clearly in view.
When an offer is presented through the OIC portal, the claimant is asked to confirm acceptance. The portal provides three responses to a settlement offer: accept, dispute, or indicate that the claimant is not in a position to settle at this stage. The third option — which allows the claim to remain open while the prognosis period plays out — exists precisely because the portal anticipates that some claimants will receive offers before their recovery is complete.
Selecting "dispute" does not end the claim or create a confrontation. It is the mechanism through which a counter-offer is submitted. The portal was built with this mechanism because offer and counter-offer is the intended process — not an unusual deviation from it.
When offers are made — and why timing matters
The stage at which an offer arrives tells you something about what it is based on.
A pre-medical offer is a settlement figure proposed before the formal medical report stage has completed — meaning there is no confirmed prognosis period from an independent medical examiner. Without a prognosis period, the tariff band cannot be accurately established. A pre-medical offer is therefore a figure arrived at without the key input that the OIC process requires for valuation.
The OIC process includes a pre-medical offer ban for claims proceeding through the standard portal route — insurers are not supposed to make formal settlement offers before the medical report has been submitted. However, offers or indications of value can arrive through informal channels, particularly in the early stages of a claim. Accepting any figure before the medical report is complete removes the ability to establish what the tariff-correct figure would have been.
A post-medical offer is made after the medical report has been submitted and approved. At this point the tariff band is established — the prognosis period is on record, the tariff figure for that band can be looked up, and any additional amounts for psychological injury or special damages can be assessed. A post-medical offer that matches the tariff figure for the correct band, plus accurately assessed special damages, is a correctly calculated offer.
The question then is whether the medical report itself is accurate. If the prognosis period recorded in the report reflects what the examiner found, and the claimant approved the report on that basis, the post-medical offer is the figure that the process produces for that claim. If the report understates the prognosis period — because symptoms continued longer than the report records — that is a different situation, and one that the medical report review stage is the appropriate point to address.
Insurers have an operational incentive to close claims early. An early settlement reduces administrative cost and removes uncertainty. Where a claimant accepts before symptoms are fully known, the settlement may reflect a lower tariff band than the injury would ultimately have justified.
The OIC portal's structure — with defined stages, a medical report requirement and a wait-out-prognosis option — is designed partly to prevent early closure of claims that have not yet reached the point where accurate valuation is possible. The tools to avoid settling too early exist within the process. Whether to use them depends on whether recovery is complete at the point the offer arrives.
What determines the correct figure
The tariff is fixed. The inputs that produce the tariff figure are not.
For a whiplash or soft tissue injury processed through the OIC portal, the tariff figure is determined entirely by the prognosis period recorded in the medical report. That period places the injury in one of seven bands, each with a fixed compensation amount. A three-month prognosis produces a different figure from a six-month prognosis. A nine-month prognosis produces a different figure from a twelve-month prognosis. The tariff is a step function — movement between bands produces a material change in the settlement figure.
The prognosis period is not the same as the actual duration of symptoms. It is the medical examiner's assessment of how long symptoms were expected to last at the time of the examination. If the examination happens early in the recovery period, the prognosis may accurately reflect what was expected at that point — even if symptoms subsequently continued longer. This is one reason the timing of the medical appointment matters, and why the review window before approving the report is significant.
Special damages are the financial losses caused directly by the accident — lost earnings, travel costs to medical appointments, physiotherapy costs, prescription charges and any other out-of-pocket expenses that can be evidenced. They sit outside the tariff and are not capped by it. They are assessed separately and added on top of any tariff payment.
A settlement offer that includes only the tariff figure without addressing special damages is not a complete offer. If financial losses were incurred and are evidenced, they form part of what the process is designed to compensate. The absence of special damages from an offer does not mean they are not recoverable — it means they have not been agreed yet, and that element of the claim remains open.
Two tariff schedules are currently in operation. The original 2021 figures apply to accidents occurring before 31 May 2025. The uplifted figures — approximately 15% higher — apply to accidents on or after that date. The tariff figure in an offer should correspond to the schedule that applies to the accident date. For most claims currently in the system, the original schedule is the correct one.
Verifying which schedule applies and confirming the tariff figure for the relevant prognosis band takes a few minutes using the compensation tariff page. It is worth confirming that the figure in the offer matches what the tariff produces before accepting.
Situations where the decision is more straightforward
Some claims reach a point where the figure is what it is, and the relevant question is simply whether the inputs are correct.
A claim that involves a single whiplash injury, where liability was admitted in full, the medical report accurately reflects the prognosis period, symptoms have resolved by the time the offer arrives, and all financial losses are included — this is the claim the OIC process was designed for. The offer in this situation is a mechanical application of the tariff to the facts. The relevant check is whether the tariff figure matches the correct band for the prognosis period recorded, and whether special damages have been addressed.
OIC data consistently shows that unrepresented and represented claimants settle at similar compensation levels in this category. The tariff is fixed. A solicitor cannot negotiate a higher tariff figure than the medical report supports. If the report is accurate and the losses are covered, the figure is what the process produces.
Once the prognosis period has elapsed, recovery is confirmed, the medical report has been approved, and the offer reflects the correct tariff band plus evidenced special damages, the decision is substantially a factual one. The tariff figures are published — they can be looked up. The special damages can be totalled from the evidence. The offer can be checked against what the process is designed to produce.
In this situation, the remaining question is practical: does the offer match the tariff figure for the correct band and the correct tariff schedule, and does it include all agreed special damages? If yes, the offer is a correctly calculated figure. If the offer is lower than the tariff figure for the band that applies, or if special damages are missing, that discrepancy is worth raising before accepting.
Situations where the offer warrants closer attention
Some claims have features that make the correct figure less immediately clear. These are the circumstances where understanding the mechanics matters most.
If an offer arrives before symptoms have resolved, accepting it closes the claim at a prognosis period that may be shorter than the injury ultimately justifies. The OIC portal's wait-out-prognosis option exists for this situation. It pauses the settlement process without closing the claim, allowing the claimant to wait until recovery is complete before confirming a final position. Using this option is not unusual — the portal provides it because settling before recovery is complete is a recognised risk in the process.
If symptoms persist beyond the prognosis period in the approved medical report, a further medical examination may be appropriate. This would produce an updated report reflecting the actual duration of symptoms, which could place the injury in a higher tariff band. The decision to pursue a further report is one the portal process accommodates.
A claim that includes both a whiplash injury (assessed by the tariff) and a non-whiplash injury — a knee, shoulder or wrist injury, or a significant psychological injury — involves two valuation frameworks. The tariff applies to the whiplash element. The non-whiplash element is assessed under common law, using the Judicial College Guidelines as a reference. The settlement figure should include both components, and they are assessed and agreed separately.
The valuation of a non-tariff injury is not fixed — it depends on the nature and severity of the injury and how it is described in the medical evidence. An offer that addresses only the tariff element without clearly including the non-tariff component may not be a complete offer. The mixed injury claim page covers how these claims are structured.
Where the insurer has disputed liability — either denying that their driver caused the accident, or denying that the accident caused the injury — the claim is not at the settlement offer stage in the conventional sense. In practical terms, this means the value of the claim has not yet been agreed because responsibility for the accident itself is still in question. A dispute about liability needs to be resolved before valuation is meaningful. An offer made against a background of disputed liability may be a without-prejudice offer designed to close the claim on terms favourable to the insurer, rather than an offer that reflects a concession on liability.
Liability disputes within the OIC portal follow a defined process. If liability is not admitted, the claim may need to exit the portal to the small claims court for a liability determination before settlement can proceed. Accepting an offer while liability is disputed has specific implications for the claim that are worth understanding before confirming.
Where the total personal injury value of a claim may approach or exceed £5,000 — roughly a prognosis period of 18 to 24 months under the tariff, or a mixed injury with a significant non-tariff element — the claim is near the boundary where exiting the portal changes the legal framework. Above £5,000 in personal injury value, the claim moves to a track where legal costs become recoverable from the compensator. Accepting a settlement within the portal for a claim that would, properly valued, exceed that threshold, may foreclose a more advantageous route.
This is one situation where the involvement of a solicitor who understands the portal threshold rules is most directly relevant to the outcome. The do I need a solicitor page covers when professional involvement materially affects the result.
What happens if you don't accept
Not accepting does not end the claim. It continues the process.
The OIC portal includes a built-in counter-offer mechanism. If you dispute an offer, you can submit a counter-offer with a figure and a brief explanation of your reasoning. The insurer then responds — either with an improved offer, or by maintaining their position. This exchange can continue through up to three offers and three counter-offers. The portal was built with this mechanism because negotiation through offer and counter-offer is the intended process, not an exceptional step.
The strength of a counter-offer comes from its factual basis. If the counter-offer is grounded in a discrepancy between the offer and the tariff figure, an omitted special damage item, or a prognosis period that was understated in the medical report, it has a documentable foundation. If it is based only on the claimant's sense that the figure is low, it has less traction. The offers and negotiation page covers how to structure a counter-offer.
If symptoms have not resolved, the appropriate response to an offer may be neither acceptance nor a counter-offer, but to use the portal's wait-out-prognosis option. This pauses the settlement discussion without closing the claim or triggering a counter-offer exchange. The claim remains open until the claimant confirms they are ready to proceed. At that point, if recovery is complete, settlement discussions resume. If symptoms have continued, a further medical examination may be arranged.
This option is not a delaying tactic — it is a standard feature of the portal process used routinely in claims where the prognosis period has not elapsed by the time an offer is made. Selecting it does not put the claimant in a weaker position. It simply keeps the claim open until the factual basis for settlement is clearer.
If the parties cannot reach agreement through the portal's offer and counter-offer process, the claim can exit to the small claims court, where a judge determines the outcome. This route is uncommon in straightforward whiplash claims — the portal process resolves the vast majority of claims without court involvement. It is, however, the mechanism that exists if portal negotiation does not produce an agreed settlement.
For claims within the small claims limit — where personal injury value does not exceed £5,000 — each party bears their own legal costs regardless of outcome, subject to limited exceptions. Court resolution in a small claim does not automatically produce a costs award in favour of the successful party. This is one reason why the portal process is the primary route for most OIC claims, and why most claims settle within it.
The question is not whether the figure feels right — it is whether the inputs are correct
The injury element of the offer is not negotiated — it is derived from the tariff band linked to the prognosis period in the medical report. Special damages are added to evidenced financial losses. The figure that results is what the process is designed to produce for the specific facts of that claim. Whether it feels right relative to expectations, or to what someone else received, or to a number seen online, is a separate question — and not one the process answers.
The productive question before accepting is whether the prognosis period is accurately recorded, whether all special damages are included, and whether the tariff figure in the offer matches the correct band for the correct schedule. If the answer to all three is yes, the offer reflects what the process produces. If the answer to any is no, that is the specific thing worth addressing before confirming.
What to do next
Four routes, depending on where you are in the process.
The tariff calculator shows what the injury element of your settlement should be, based on your prognosis period and accident date. Enter both and it returns the tariff figure for the correct band and schedule — the number you can compare directly against the offer.
The prognosis period in the medical report is the single input that determines the tariff band and therefore the offer figure. The medical report page explains what the report contains, what to check during the review window before approving it, and what happens if the prognosis period does not accurately reflect how long symptoms lasted.
The offers and negotiation page explains how the portal's counter-offer mechanism works, what gives a counter-offer its factual basis, and how the exchange between claimant and insurer typically progresses. It covers what insurers respond to and what the process looks like from offer through to agreed settlement.
The checker works through your situation — accident date, injury type, claim stage — and shows which process applies and what the relevant steps are. If you are uncertain whether the portal applies to your claim, whether a solicitor is involved, or what stage you are at, the checker is the starting point.
Where to go from here
The pages that address each part of what this page covers.
How the OIC offer and counter-offer mechanism works, what shapes the value of a counter-offer, and how to structure a response to an offer that does not reflect the correct figure.
Why the prognosis period determines the tariff band, what to check in the draft report before approving it, and what happens if the report understates how long symptoms lasted.
Both tariff schedules — pre and post May 2025 — with every band and figure. Use this to verify that the offer matches the tariff figure for the correct prognosis band.
The reform that changed the figures, the pre vs post comparison, the fee deduction, and what the data shows. The context page for why the offer is the amount it is.
Enter your prognosis period, accident date and claim route to see the tariff figure, the fee deduction and what you are likely to actually receive. The quickest way to check whether the offer matches what the process produces for your specific claim.
Last reviewed: 31 March 2026
ClaimTalk provides general guidance only and not legal advice. This page draws on publicly available sources including the OIC portal's Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims below the Small Claims Limit in Road Traffic Accidents, the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 and Amendment Regulations 2025, and Official Injury Claim published guidance for claimants.
ClaimTalk cannot respond to questions about individual claims. If you need advice specific to your situation, a regulated solicitor is the appropriate route.