A marked drop in the number and value of personal injuries claims over the past five years should be reflected in lower insurance premiums, the Minister for Enterprise has said.
Peter Burke was speaking as the latest report from the Injuries Resolution Board showed the number of personal injury claims rose marginally last year but the total was 35 per cent lower than in 2020.
While median and average award values rose last year, the median award value has fallen by 29 per cent since the introduction in 2021 of judicially-approved personal injuries guidelines, which slashed awards for mainly minor injuries.
The median award value rose to €13,000 last year and the average award increased to €18,967, up 12 and 4 per cent respectively on 2023’s figures. However, the median award is 29 per cent lower than in 2020 and the average award is down by 21 per cent since then.
The highest award last year was €592,225 for a worker who sustained severe injuries in a workplace accident.
The board said the increase in median and average award values reflected that the board was now assessing and resolving more complex injury cases. One in five assessments last year related to moderate severity injuries, compared with one in eight in 2021.
The Award Values Report, Mr Burke said, was “strong evidence” of the board’s impact “in offering a cost effective and expedient solution for settling claims and reducing the need to go to court, thereby saving millions of euros that would have been spent on legal fees”.
He said: “As personal injuries claims continue to fall in both volume and value, I expect to see this reflected in both the cost and the availability of insurance premiums for citizens and businesses.”
The report examines key trends from more than 20,000 personal injury claim applications and more than 8,000 awards.
Despite high employment levels and a return to pre-pandemic traffic volumes, there was a significant reduction compared with 2019 in motor claims and claims for accidents in workplaces, businesses and public spaces, it said.
Some 20,318 claims were submitted over road traffic, workplace and public-setting accidents, up 1 per cent on the previous year. There was a 5 per cent reduction in workplace injury claims compared with 2023, while the number of claims over incidents in businesses and public spaces was unchanged.
Claims for accidents in workplaces, businesses and public spaces are down by 40 per cent compared with 2019, and motor claims fell by 30 per cent over the same period.
These findings, the report said, “highlight stability in sectors which have identified insurance cost and availability as crucial, particularly SMEs”.
In addition to its powers to resolve more complex injury claims, the board can deal with claims for wholly psychological injuries. Claims for psychiatric damage injuries rose from 5 per cent of awards in 2021 to 14 per cent in the second half of last year.
The number of respondents who consented to the board’s assessment and mediation services was 71 per cent last year, the same as in 2023.
Welcoming the report, the Alliance for Insurance Reform said its findings “makes the ongoing increase in insurance premiums impossible to justify”.
Noting the number of cases resolved by the board increased to 50 per cent last year, alliance chief executive Brian Hanley said there are “still too many cases being settled via litigation”. He called on the Government to “safeguard and promote the board as the fairest and fastest means of settling claims”.
The Judicial Council’s proposed increase of 17 per cent in awards threatens to drive more cases away from the board and into costly litigation, Mr Hanley said.
“Increased awards will also mean increased premiums and Ireland already pays considerably higher awards than most other countries. Motorists, businesses, sports, community and voluntary organisations simply cannot afford for this to happen.”
