THERE HAS been a significant reduction in the amount of money paid out by insurance companies for personal injury claims, and savings from this should be passed on to consumers through lower premiums, the Injuries Board has said.
Releasing preliminary data for 2010 yesterday, the board said the volume of claims had increased by 9 per cent between 2008 and 2010 but the amounts offered in compensation had fallen by €30 million to €187 million over the same period, a drop of 13.8 per cent.
The fall in compensation despite the rise in the number of claims reflects a change in the composition of claims, the board said. The single biggest change over the last two years has been a 10 per cent fall in the volume of higher-value employer liability claims last year.
Claims across motor and public liability, which are typically of lower value, increased by 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively but these increases were offset by the decline in workplace claims and the average 2010 award fell by 4 per cent to €22,271.
“Our aim is to fully compensate accident victims but to reduce processing costs,” the board’s chief executive, Patricia Byron, said.
She said it would make savings of up to €205 per claim for insurers in 2011 in addition to existing annual savings of up to €100 million arising from the board’s non-adversarial model.
“We believe it is incumbent on insurers to pass on these benefits to hard-pressed consumers and businesses rather than constantly flagging reasons why premiums should increase,” Ms Byron said.
According to the board, nearly three-quarters of awards were for injuries from car accidents, with the remainder split between workplace (11 per cent) and public place (15 per cent) accidents.
Longford and Limerick accounted for the largest number of awards as a proportion of population, while Kilkenny had the lowest number of awards per head of population.
