42% of PI victims cited the existence of a "compensation culture" as the reason they didn't make a claim

According to a YouGov poll of 1,009 adults who have had an accident for which they could have potentially made a claim :

·       -   42% cited the existence of a ‘compensation culture’ as the reason they did not.

Of those who made a claim:

·          -  26% were nervous about the process,

·         - 19% felt daunted and intimidated, while

·         - 10% worried about what others would think

·         -  just 22% felt confident about pursuing their claim for damages. 

Reasons given for not claiming were stress, nervousness about the process and a desire not to make trouble for anyone.

The poll found that 60% of people suffered financial implications as a result of their injury – with one in five losing out on earnings of £10,000 or more – while over a third had to take more than a month off work.

The research also highlighted the emotional suffering and stress that victims suffer – half admitted they were anxious about how long they would take to recover, and one in five (20%) were worried they would not be able to pay their household bills.

Feelings of anger were common, with almost half (47%) feeling angry and frustrated with the person or company who caused their accident, and 54% left feeling their injury could have been avoided.

The report also tried to dispel the notion that people make claims for personal gain. 

   -   Some 37% planned to use their compensation to replace lost earnings
   -   30% said it was to cover the cost of rehab and medication,
   -   21% said they would pay off debts.

BTE and ATE Legal expenses insurance ensures that accident victims who have legitimate cases have financial support to get their lives back on track, and obtain the compensation they deserve. In the case of BTE all compensation awarded remains intact. 

 

Our BTE Family and Motoring Legal Solutions policies include extra benefits such as a legal advice helpline, access to our digital law guide and smart legal documents to download -such as a free will.   

LEI represents better value than ever for your customers so please ensure that if it isn't embedded within their home or motor insurance policy your customers understand what benefits they could be losing if they choose not to opt-in. 

Bringing Fairness to life

“  Among our corporate values Fairness is a key creative element in our day-to-day business activity.
 Fairness highlights that:

-    We learn from each other, and approach each other openly
-    We accept cultural differences, and regard them as sources of mutual enrichment
-    We regard equality of opportunity in professional development as a given.
-    Regardless of the specific occupational context - one's position, workplace location, or duties for instance
-    Regardless also of personal circumstances - marital status, social origin, or educational background - all are examples, and all employees are offered the same opportunities
-    Gender, and age are irrelevant when it comes to opportunities for self-development
-    We recognise that a good balance between work, and family life is of prime importance at ARAG, which is why we aim to create conditions designed to promote it      ”

 How do we demonstrate Fairness? 

 

Cross-departmental thinking helps us make full use of our potential. When we approach things from a different point of view, we depart from frequently trodden paths, and find new solutions.  

 

Consequently, we have decided to highlight our day-to-day team work and collaborative efforts by internally embracing all of our different cultures, and nationalities within our Bristol office. 

 

We will do this by celebrating the respective National Days of each country.

 

Our programme will commence with the French national day, Bastille Day, with celebrations on 14th July followed by the Hungarian St Stephens day on 20th August, and another 11 other celebrations.

 

You will be able to keep track of our cultural and national world tour, and all our internal events via our social media.

 

Stay connected - we’ll keep you entertained!

        

News report exposes 57% increase in Identity theft

An article about ID theft on Radio four this morning prompted me to share some information with you and to highlight help available for ARAG Family Legal Solutions policyholders.

The news report exposed an increase of 57% in the number of victims of identity theft last year from 94,500 victims in 2014 to 148,000 victims in 2015.

Research found that fraudsters scour social media websites to obtain personal data such as name, date of birth, address and bank details and it was claimed that " Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn had become a "hunting ground" for identity thieves". More than 85% of the frauds were carried out online.

Here's a link to the BBC news item which provides further links to articles about keep personal ID safe and the type of scams to guard against. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36701297

Here is another link that was mentioned on Martin’s Money Saving website. This looks quite good

Check if hackers have stolen your personal info. It allows you to find out if passwords, email addresses, your home address, phone numbers or your DOB have been exposed after the big hacks of the last few years (including the recent LinkedIn warning). Hack check

Help from ARAG

ARAG Family Legal Solutions provides a helpline and full resolution service for policyholders who want advice about and tips keeping personal information secure or suspect that they may have been the target of ID theft. The helpline is available 8.00am – 8.00pm and policyholders will find the contact phone number in their ARAG policy wording. The Insured can claim for reimbursement of communication costs incurred to repair their credit rating and get help to communicate with banks and card providers. Most ID theft problems can be resolved with the help of a resolution case-worker.

If, following the resolution case-worker’s assistance, it becomes necessary to pursue or defend legal action to resolve the matter, cover is available to pay the Insured’s legal costs. The case-worker will help the Insured to report the matter to our Claims Team at that point and we will arrange to appoint a lawyer under the terms of the policy.

Watch this space…... We will soon be bringing you more information about some of the cases we have dealt with.  

Survey finds that workers are afraid to claim for compensation following accidents at work

Under the headline "More than four in 10 workers fear claiming for compensation" this week's Insurance Post reports on a You Gov survey which found that 45% of workers in Britain fear losing their job if they take legal action against an employer.

The research conducted alongside the survey was commissioned by Claims.co.uk and revealed that workers could be at risk of mistreatment and exploitation due to a lack of awareness of their rights.

23% of workers surveyed were not aware that their employer is legally obliged to have insurance for workplace injuries. A representative from the researcher pointed out that,

"If workers are unaware of the insurance their boss is required to have, and are too fearful of losing their job to make a claim, they may work in dangerous or unhealthy conditions without raising complaint. This is particularly problematic in industries like construction, where there are ample health and safety rules, which are time-consuming for employers but essential for employees……There are occasions where legal redress is the only option, both essential for the victim and beneficial in a much wider sense as it helps to stamp out dangerous practices. Almost half (48%) of 18-24 year-old's questioned were unaware of employers' legal personal injury insurance obligations". 

If young workers are unaware of the insurance their employer has, we think there is a risk that they could also not realise that insurance is available to protect them against legal costs to bring their personal injury claim.

It is our vision to enable everyone, not just those who can afford it, to assert their legal rights. Our Family Legal Solutions policy protects all family members living with the householder – including adult children living at their parent's home. It makes sense for clients to opt-in to legal expenses insurance where it is not already embedded within clients' home insurance; however for individuals who do not have before the event legal expenses cover our Recourse Complete after- the -event policy provides an alternative solution.  

How do businesses and claimants feel about early conciliation?

Our first post outlined the background to ACAS's recent research paper and provided details of the profile of claimants. In Part 2 below we tell you more about how businesses and claimants felt about early conciliation and the outcomes. There is also some information about tribunal fees.

Refusal to take part in early conciliation

Reasons for Claimants not wanting to partake in conciliation:

• 54% thinking that the employer would not be willing to negotiate
• 18 % thinking that the employer would not be willing to engage
• 8% thinking Conciliation would not resolve the issue/ would be a waste of time

Reasons for Employers not wanting to partake in conciliation:

• 26% thinking they had no case to answer
• 24% not willing to negotiate.  (So significantly lower than Claimant’s perception).
• 17% thinking Conciliation would not resolve the issue/ would be a waste of time
• 12% other side was not willing to negotiate

Perception

• There seems to be a perception with claimants that conciliation was a process that they were obliged to complete before they could apply for a tribunal hearing. They may have interpreted conciliation as a legal requirement for ET, while others may have been ‘passively’ participating and did not expect the employer to reach a settlement before the hearing stage.

• Employers much like claimants, do not expect to achieve resolution of the dispute through early conciliation. Some employers considered the process as a pointless exercise which held up the ET process and caused them added stress. For example, one case involved alleged discrimination and the employer felt that the very nature of the case and the claimant involved meant that the issue would not be resolved through conciliation. They continued with the case as they believed they were legally obliged to (in reality, participation is entirely voluntary). In addition, one employer had entered into conciliation hoping for legal advice from Acas, as they could not afford a solicitor (whereas in reality this is not a function of conciliation). (Legal Expenses Insurance would have helped).

Employment Tribunal outcomes

• The most common case outcome was an Acas-agreed settlement (52%), followed by 22% reaching a tribunal hearing, and 8% having a private settlement.
• Where settlements were reached, mostly this was achieved by financial settlement (86% of claimant/claimant representatives) followed by a reference (28%).
• The size of payments varied from £84 to £94,000; the average (median) sum of money received was £5,422. Settlement amounts at post-ET1 conciliation were on average higher than those received at the EC stage.

• Settlements consisting of money were more frequent among employers:

o   who worked in the public sector (92%), compared with those working the private sector (78%);

o   with an internal legal department than those without (74% versus 84%);

o   who did not have any Trade Unions or staff-associations at the workplace than those who did (87% versus 76%);

o   who were members of an employer’s or trade association than those who were not (94% versus 81%).

• In terms of reasons for case withdrawals, 25% of claimants and 28% of employers withdrew because they did not think they would win.

• 20% of claimants who withdrew their case reported that it was because the tribunal hearing fees were off- putting, this compares to 14% of employers citing this reason. When asked to elaborate, the majority said they could not afford to pay the fee. (The cost of access to justice can be prohibitive to all but especially to individuals).

o   When discussing fees, one claimant explained how they would have continued to a hearing if it was less expensive, a view that was also expressed by an employer as they hypothesised the claimant in their case had accepted to settle after seeing the cost of the hearing.

o   Another claimant reported the financial strain the fees placed them under. The fees were paid for on a credit card as they were unemployed at the time.

• The payment of fees had mixed effects on employers. While for some there was no impact on how they viewed the case, for others it changed their perception, seeing the claimant as more serious in intent.

Employment Tribunal Fees

• 35% of claimants (and their representatives) reported that they had applied for a fee remission when they made their ET application, and this was higher among those with lower household incomes (no surprise).
• Of those who applied for fee remission, 80% reported that they were successful. (75% in full, 5% in part).  (Note - in total 72% of claimants did not receive any help with fees).
• When asked what they would have done if their application had been unsuccessful, 40% reported that they would have submitted the application anyway, 13% that they would have pursued the case through some other means, and 37% that they would have dropped their case altogether.
• Among claimants (and their representatives) who did not qualify for a fee remission 79% reported that they paid the application fee themselves  and  19% said it was paid for by a third party on their behalf. (Presumably Trade Union and/or Legal Insurance?)
• Claimants believe that employers take advantage of the fees, using them to discourage potential claimants.
• Misconception with a claimant thinking that the costs associated with a hearing may be temporary as they were aware that in civil cases judges award costs to the winning party in a dispute and thought something similar would happen in an employment tribunal.

Our conclusion

Our policies pay lawyer's costs throughout the early conciliation process, the cost of employment tribunal fees is covered and where claims progress to a tribunal hearing policies pay for the legal costs to represent employees and employers. In addition insurance against Compensation awards and settlements that we have agreed to is available subject to the merits of the case.
Only a small proportion of claimants receive financial help with fees and only 24% of claimants were legally represented at the early conciliation stage. Despite the obvious hardship evidenced in the survey 79% of those who did not receive help progressed their claim.

The research found that employers perceived the early conciliation process as stressful and there was a lack of confidence in the process being successful in achieving resolution.
The findings provide evidence that the reforms have resulted in new needs for insurance protection which support our belief that legal expenses insurance delivers great value for both employees and employers when disputes between the parties arise.