Why are claims being rejected?
Solicitors are not turning them down because their claims lack merit. It’s because gradual changes in the law over the last decade have made many lower value claims commercially unviable for some types of firms.
Why do some firms believe they have to take this stance now?
The answer is to be found in a series of legal reforms introduced over the past few years that have quietly reshaped the personal injury system in England and Wales.
Key legal changes
According to data released by the Compensation Recovery Unit in the 3rd quarter of 2025, the number of personal injury claims from motor accidents has fallen significantly.
At first glance, the statistics could be read as suggesting accidents are becoming less common.
However, the decline in the number of claims has less to do with there being fewer injuries and more to do with the new rules governing lower value motor claims.
The reforms introduced have altered the way claims are brought and the extent to which a winning party to a claim can recover their legal costs from whoever was responsible for their injuries. These changes have significantly reduced the recoverability of the claimant’s legal costs.
All of this has made some firms decide to close their injury departments to close down altogether or to only take on high value claims. Larger firms, with personal injury units have as a rule stopped handling almost all claims where compensation is likely to be less than £100,000.
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The Small Claims Changes for Road Traffic Accidents
One of the most significant set of reforms came in the form of the Whiplash Reform Programme in May 2021 which saw changes to the small claims system as it relates to road traffic accidents.
Previously, most personal injury claims worth more than £1000 fell outside the small claims track, meaning the claimant could recover their legal costs from the defendant.
On 31 May 2021, the small claims limit was raised to £5,000 for most road traffic accident claims.
In practical terms, this means many people with modest injuries and in particular whiplash injuries, must now pursue their own claims through the Official Injury Claim portal.
The Official Injury Claim portal is an online system designed to make it easy for people to bring claims themselves using the portal, but without legal representation (as no costs are awarded in cases run in the portal).
That approach was intentional. Under the small claims track, legal costs are generally not recoverable from the defendant’s insurer.
As a result, many solicitors can no longer handle these claims on a No Win No Fee basis because there is no way they can recover their fees.
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The Whiplash Tariff System
Brought in around the same time as the ‘small claims’ changes were the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 which introduced a whiplash claim tariff. Before these changes came in, compensation for whiplash injuries was awarded in the same way other types of damages still are.
Compensation for whiplash injuries is now a fixed fee according to how long it’s expected the accident victim’s symptoms will last. Injuries have been capped at levels far lower than the compensation awards that would have previously been made for the same type of injury.
For example, for a whiplash injury lasting “more than 9 months but not more than 12 months” from the date of the accident, you’ll currently be awarded a fixed amount of compensation in the sum of £1510, as per the updated whiplash injury tariff, for injuries suffered in accidents on or after 31st May 2025.
The pre-reform value of compensation for the same injury would have been in the region of £2500 and £3100.
These tariffs were introduced by the government as part of an effort to reduce what the insurers and the government claimed were an excessive amount of injury claims.
The insurers promised that if the government introduced the new rules, insurance premiums for motorists would come down, with all the saving made passed on to the motorists.
Whilst the number of claims has gone down over the past few years, there is ongoing debate about whether those savings have been passed on to motorists.
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Fixed Recoverable Costs and the new court tracks
More changes were brought in, in October 2023 with the expansion of the ‘fixed recoverable costs’ regime.
When a defence is filed in a personal injury claim, the case will be allocated to one of three different “tracks” depending on their value and complexity.
- Claims worth between £10,000 and £25,000 will usually get allocated to the fast track.
- Claims valued between £25,000 and £100,000 go to the relatively newly introduced intermediate track.
- Higher value claims (over £100,000 or complex claims) go into the multi-track.
For fast track and intermediate track cases, the amount of legal costs that can be recovered from the losing party is now capped at fixed levels.
This system was designed to bring certainty and proportionality to litigation costs.
However, it also means that the legal fees recoverable in many cases are now far lower than they were before, regardless of how much work solicitors are required to put into the claim to bring it to a successful conclusion.
Commercial reality for law firms
Running a personal injury case is rarely straightforward.
When legal costs are capped, some firms conclude that handling lower-value claims is no longer commercially viable. Hence the reason many practices now concentrate primarily on complex or high-value cases.
It is not unusual to hear of firms setting a minimum claim value, sometimes £100,000 or more as previously mentioned, before they will take on a claim.
This approach allows them to focus on catastrophic injury litigation, such as brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and other life-changing accident claims.
Why Mooneerams is different
Every law firm must make its own decisions about the types of cases it handles.
The economic realities of the modern personal injury system mean some firms choose to concentrate exclusively on very high-value claims.
At Mooneerams we continue to act for injured clients regardless of the likely value of their claim.
We believe access to justice should not depend on the size of damages our client is likely to receive.
We are a niche personal injury firm of solicitors.
We only handle injury claims and only act for claimants.
Our team handles both modest injury claims and serious injury claims, involving brain injury, spinal injury and other life-changing injuries.
What injured people should do next
If you have been injured in an accident that was not your fault, or have been turned down by another firm, speak to one of our experienced personal injury solicitors here at Mooneerams.
We’ll give you a clear, honest and without obligation assessment of your case.
Contact Mooneerams on 029 2199 1927 or request a call back and we’ll contact you promptly.
Posted in Personal Injury Claims
