Whiplash reforms and cyclists
News
02 September 2021
As we told you in June, the Civil Liability Act 2018 (CLA) and the Whiplash Injury Regulations - more commonly known as the whiplash reforms - came into effect on 31 May 2021 and affect how consumers make a PI whiplash claim in some circumstances.
The CLA introduces a ban on offers to settle road traffic accident-related whiplash claims without a medical report (pre-medical offers) where the person suffering the injury and the person who caused the injury were using a motor vehicle on a road or other public place in England or Wales.
Until they have seen appropriate evidence of injury, all regulated persons are prohibited from:
- inviting a person to offer a payment in settlement of the claim
- offering a payment in settlement of the claim
- making a payment in settlement of the claim, and
- accepting a payment in settlement of the claim.
We have made a change to our Regulatory and Disciplinary Procedure Rules by making reference in rule 1.2(b) to the CLA. This means that we will explicitly treat a failure to comply with the ban as potential misconduct.
We have received a number of queries about whiplash claims in relation to cyclists. The CLA does not cover whiplash claims made by cyclists and the change we have made to our Regulatory and Disciplinary Procedure Rules also does not impact on whiplash claims made by cyclists. In making our rule change, we are not seeking to change the way that firms dealt with whiplash claims that are not covered by the Civil Liability Act.