Injuries Board payouts up by €22m in first half of 2014

The amount of money paid out by the state’s Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) in the first half of the year increased by €22m to €144m.

The new figures were released by the PIAB as it called for “greater transparency from insurers” on their early-settlement programmes. The PIAB figures show an increase in the number of people involved in the settlements. Compensation was awarded to 6,552 personal-injury claimants, up from 5,286 during the first half of last year.

The average award was €22,082, with motor liability involved in three-quarters of all awards made.

The second-highest level of awards was for public liability, at more than 17%, while employer liability accounted for 7% of awards.

While there was an overall increase of 24% in the numbers of awards made in the first half of 2014, there was a 30% rise in the number of public liability awards, with the number of motor liability awards up by 24% year-on-year.

Injuries Board CEO Patricia Byron, said the increase in awards and the amount of money paid out in the first half of the year was due to a spike in claims in recent years, particularly leading up to the start of last year, and the time lag between the claims being made and being resolved.

She said the number of claims lodged last year had seen a decline and this trend had continued into 2014, indicating that a fall in the number of awards can be expected in coming years.

The PIAB has operated for a decade, but Ms Byron said despite general progress, which had kept many cases out of court, there were still “tell-tale signs of unresolved issues”, including the absence of data on unsupervised settlements.

“We have had feedback from a range of business and other stakeholders who are concerned at the level of unsupervised settlements,” she said, referring to cases resolved without the involvement of the PIAB or the courts.

“As these resolutions occur ‘behind closed doors’, there are concerns about their impact on competitiveness, premiums and, potentially, on false or exaggerated claims.”

An informal review of data from a range of sources indicated that up to 15,000 cases reported to insurance companies each year never materialise, but are provided for in insurance company reserves before they are written down to nil.

As for the estimated 45,000 claims each year, 40%, or 18,000, are settled up front directly between claimants and insurers without recourse to the Injuries Board or courts.

“Insurance companies and claimants have benefited from the visibility of the Injuries Board model, where information is shared very early in the claims process, but the industry is not currently providing data on settlements pre- and post- the process and we’re calling on them to do so,” said Ms Byron.

The payouts

-€144m paid out in awards in the first half of 2014.

-Increase of €22m.

-6,552 people involved.

-75% of cases due to motor liability.

-€22,082, the average award.