How long does an insurer have to reply to a compensation claim?

Your instructed Solicitor is not being unduly slow and neither are you being impatient – it is a frustrating situation for a claimant in your circumstances, but it would seem that all is in order.

You do need to see the claim for the motorcycle damage and your personal injury as two separate matters. The claim for the motorbike would have been an easy process for the defendants – they would simply have wanted to check on the vehicle, establish a market value and then settle that.

With regards to personal injury, I do not see there being anything other than a successful outcome given the previous admission of liability and the Police action against the 3rd party driver. Sadly, personal injury cases will take a considerably longer period of time to process and settle than a vehicle claim and your Solicitors will be working through the process at this time. Your Solicitor will have obtained your medical records – or at least requested them and that can cause a small delay in that it can take a while for the records to be released. The Solicitor will then be seeking to arrange a medical expert to interview you – with sight of your medical records – to discuss the mechanics of the accident and the injuries that you sustained/medical treatment and then examine you in order to provide a prognosis of recovery and longer term issues caused by the injuries.

It is prudent to ensure that a claimant has recovered – or recovered as much as possible – before settling a personal injury claim in order that certainty over an appropriate settlement can be known. It would seem like your claim is likely to have a substantial value when it comes to settlement given the injuries sustained.

Good luck!

Given the considerable damage to your vehicle and the fact that you rolled a number of times and at some speed, there is unlikely to be any challenge to the fact that those within the vehicle would sustain injury and therefore, claims for personal injury compensation should be accepted without challenge.

The only issue that a defendant will want to consider is the severity of any injuries claimed for, to ensure that there are no pre-existing injuries/conditions and that the claims are (in that respect) correct.

If you have yet to pursue a claim, please contact us as we can assist you. In terms of the CNF, defendant insurers will have a period of a couple of months to respond meaningfully to that.

It is very difficult when dealing with an overseas defendant who refuses or fails to cooperate with a claim. In the case of the defendant being a UK based organisation, a Solicitor may issue proceedings to bring a non-cooperating defendant to court in a bid to seek a judgement that will compel the defendant to cooperate. In a case like yours, you could issue proceedings but the overseas defendant may simply choose to ignore any hearing date and fail to attend. Whilst the courts would find against them in such a scenario, there is little that can be done.

The only glimmer of light in this matter could be to issue proceedings against the UK agent and see if gaining judgement in your favour against them moves matters on.

Have you considered instructing a specialist Solicitor to act for you in your claim? We appreciate your concerns about the legal costs, but with our No Win No Fee service, you don’t have finance the costs of making a claim – you don’t pay any costs if you don’t succeed and the majority of your legal costs can be recovered from the defendant insurer if you succeed (claimants do have to contribute up to 25% of awarded settlement should they succeed).

We often hear from people who need help after attempting to pursue a claim directly. Whilst there is no specific need in law to instruct a Solicitor, it is fair to say that people acting without specialist legal representation struggle to get fair treatment and responses from defendants. In such cases, defendants know that claimants probably don’t know their rights and are unsure about how to proceeding with a claim – especially when the defendant isn’t cooperating as they should.

A specialist Solicitor knows how to cut through these issues and will make the claims process hassle free. When a claimant has instructed a specialist to represent them, they can be sure that their rights will be upheld and that defendants will be held to account. Another very important consideration is knowing whether any offer to settle the claim is fair and at the appropriate level for any injuries or losses sustained.

If you would like to speak with our specialists about your claim and consider whether you may wish to instruct them on a No Win No Fee basis, please contact us on 01225430285 or use our website to make further enquiries.

There is not a specific time limit for a CNF to be sent to a defendant – although the statute of limitation that requires a claim to be made within 3 years of the date of an accident does require that the claim is made within that period.

In the majority of cases, a Solicitor will send a claimants CNF to a defendant shortly after they have been instructed (Conditional Fee Agreement has been signed and is in place) and when the contents of the CNF have been agreed with the claimant to ensure accuracy. However, in some cases it is prudent to delay submission of a CNF to ensure that evidence can be obtained to substantiate the claimants position or to allow a Solicitor to construct a robust claim with the best possible prospects of success.

It would seem that it will depend on the type of and cause of accident that you had. If the accident was an accident at work, relating to the construction project, the tools and equipment being used and negligence within the same, liability would rest with the contractor overseeing the project. If the injury happened due to a fault or disrepair with the building, it could then be the building owner who would face liability.

You wouldn’t be able to take the matter to court immediately as reasonable delays are acceptable (in the eyes of the court system). However if the payment were to be unduly delayed, you could then certainly seek legal support to enforce release of settlement.

Whether or not your work was casual or permanent is not important, what is important is whether the accident was within the last 3 years and whether there is sufficient evidence to support a claim. In this circumstance, we would need evidence to demonstrate negligence as the cause of the injury and some sort of written accident book note at the workplace. Failing n accident book report, do you have any copies of text messages with the employer or emails regarding the accident? Also, was an ambulance called to the scene? If so, the ambulance service will have a record of attending the scene of the accident and this would greatly support you.

The issues and frustrations you have raised are commonly held by claimants in the middle of the claims process. We would like to put your mind at rest in that you have succeeded with your claim as liability has been admitted as demonstrated by the interim award of £1,000 that you’ve already received (a defendant would not pay an interim award if they had not admitted liability). This means that you will be fully compensated in due course. The reason for the delay in the process is that your side (on the advise of the Barrister – who is the expert) needs to establish the full extent of the damage and loss caused by your injury. The reason for the 3rd medical is to enable your Solicitor to reach a settlement value that appropriately accounts for the impact that the injury has had on you, continues to have on you and will have on your future.

We would anticipate that as soon as the 3rd medical is completed, that your Solicitor will be able to return to the Barrister to seek guidance on claim value and then approach the defendant with the settlement request. Of course, there will be some further back and forths between the two sides in negotiating a settlement that both parties can agree to, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer.

Although you feel abandoned, your Solicitor will wish to continue with the claim as they will firstly want to see you compensated and secondly, they’ll want to receive their fees! The fact that liability is admitted is a really strong point here.

If you are still struggling financially, you could seek to request a further interim payment against the final settlement value.

You are unlikely to be able to prove a causal link between the condition you have with your feet and the work that you undertook. We must also consider whether you are within the 3 year claim limitation period, which would start at the date at which you became aware of symptoms that could be related to your work.

There is no set time for settlement to be in the hands of the claimant. In most cases, settlement is usually made within 2-4 weeks, occasionally up to 6 weeks. If settlement is agreed, but is not forthcoming from the insurers, after allowing a reasonable period of time and making some chasing demands, a claimant may seek a Judgement to compel the insurers to provide settlement.

Unless and until the defendant insurers have accepted liability, they will not pay any costs or awards to you – interim or otherwise. Therefore, the most important step in your claim is to prove that they are the liable party. It would appear that you are in a position to do this given the independent witness that you have and if the Police report confirms your version of events (which would seem to be the case), it is unclear why the defendant is not admitting liability. Has your Solicitor discussed taking the matter to court to allow a Judge to find on the matter for you?

Given the way that the system has been set up to favour the defendant insurer side of the process (thanks to the continued undermining of access to justice from our Government!), there is no definitive answer to state what amount of time is reasonable. Whilst frustrating for you, you will need to stick with the process a while longer. Your Solicitor should be applying pressure to the defendants given the time that has lapsed and perhaps soon start threatening to issue proceedings to compel the defendant to cooperate with the process.

What kind of claim are you trying to pursue?

I’m unhappy with the offer that has been made in my claim. My solicitor has said to accept the offer, but I’ve said no. The 2nd offer is raised by about £600 in view of the injuries I sustained. In my opinion it’s a poor offer, but my solicitors aren’t supporting me. What can I do?

The Solicitors will be providing you with the advice that they believe is in your best interests and they must therefore be of the view that the offer on the table is appropriate and unlikely to be increased should you reject the same. Although you have every right to feel that the offer is too low, you must take in to account that your emotional link to the injuries and impact of the incident that led to the claim being made in the first place, is sadly irrelevant when it comes to personal injury settlement value.

You should also be aware that rejecting the offer does come with risk. Should you reject the offer and seek to go before a Judge and the Judge were to decide that the offer made was fair, you would then face liability for the defendants costs should a hearing fail to see you get an increased settlement. If this were to happen, not only would you not get a higher settlement, you would actually be left with far less. As such, your Solicitors advice is important and you should be very wary of ignoring the advice given.

Are you being represented by a specialist firm of personal injury Solicitors? If so, you should perhaps request that your file is moved from the claims handler you have been assigned, to a more senior and qualified Solicitor.

The NHS no longer x-rays for suspected rib fractures unless there is an immediate concern of lung damage, so you would not be able to demonstrate anything further than the probably or possible fractures as would be listed in your medical records. However, you should be able to obtain an element of settlement for the pain and discomfort caused by the rib injuries you sustained and certainly for the PTSD issues if your medical records can evidence that you were referred for specialist psychology treatment.

You may wish to complain (in writing) to your Solicitors as to the apparent failings of your claims handler as they should be looking to ensure that you are compensated for all injuries sustained and not just for whiplash.

Although you have been in the claims process for 6 months, you should be aware that you are probably only around half way through the process. If you are unhappy with your Solicitor and the way that they handle communication with you, you should make them aware of your complaint in writing. If that doesn’t resolve things, you could make a formal complaint against the Solicitors.

As the 3rd party have admitted liability, that means that the claim for your damaged property and bike should not be contested, but the defendants may choose to argue about any personal injury claim given the lack of damage to their insured’s vehicle.

Your insurers are clearly being frustrated by the defendants failure to cooperate. In usual circumstances a hearing would be arranged in court by your insurers to compel the defendant to cooperate with the claim – that isn’t them admitting liability, but at least providing their defence. If you don’t have legal cover with your insurance, it could simply be that the insurers have exhausted their options and don’t want to risk further costs. Have you tried contacting the insurance ombudsman to discuss the conduct of the defendant insurers?

Were you injured in the accident at all?

Do you have a Solicitor acting for you? If not, the most sensible course of action would be to contact us so that we can have a specialist personal injury Solicitor take over this matter for you on a No Win No Fee basis as having specialist representation is likely to see the defendants pull their finger out and provide the responses needed.

You can allow the insurance to lapse. The cover is already in place for the accident and whether or not you renew will not impact an existing claim made during the cover period.

Did you suffer personal injury in the accident you refer to? If so, we can help and advise you. A claim for personal injury will take many months, usually at least 12 to process. If however, you are simply referring to vehicle loss or damage, we cannot advise as to the timescales within which the insurers should be operating.

Are you claiming anything for personal injury? Were you injured? If no injury claim is being made, it is hard to advise and we would suggest that you seek written explanation from the insurers as to why they are not settling your vehicle loss claim.

If you were injured and need further help, please call us on 01225430285.

How were you injured? Please explain the accident scenario in order that we can advise you further.

Whether you are pursuing an injury claim, a loss claim or both, you should be able to take the matter to court to compel a defendant to cooperate and engage in the claims process.

Do you have a Solicitor acting for you? If so, have you discussed the situation with them and asked why the process appears to be going extremely slowly? It could well be that the defendant is dragging their heels in the hope that you will eventually just want to settle the case for a lower value than you should get – with that in mind, it’s important that you stay the course to ensure that your settlement is maximised.

It is important to point out that the claims process is a lengthy one and that most claims will take 18 months or more to process from start to settlement. There are a few reasons for this and one of the main ones is that the framework within which personal injury claims are made affords defendants lengthy periods to consider and respond to various stages of the claim. Another issue is that it is important to ensure that the full extent of injury consequences and losses caused by the at fault party in the accident are fully understood.

On a more positive note, the fact that you have had a medical assessment indicates that liability is admitted and this should mean that you’re not too far away from reaching settlement.

There is not a specific timescale in this scenario but it is usually a fairly speedy process.

Hi Ian,

I have finally had an acceptance of liability on this claim, however, due to the pandemic (August 2020), my mother was unable to attend her GP surgery and 111 advised only to attend a&e if her injuries were life threatening, which they weren’t. The insurers have said because of no medical evidence, they are only willing to offer what i consider to be a very poor amount, probably a quarter of what i was expecting.

They have said that if i wish to negotiate i will need some legal representation, however, I do not want to lose 25% of the settlement when i am more than capable of representing my mother and fighting her case. Is it fair for them to say this?

Thanks

Medical evidence is really important in a claim for personal injury compensation, particularly with regards to settlement valuation. In normal circumstances, a claimant will have medical evidence showing an initial attendance for treatment and notes for any follow up appointments. The claimants Solicitor will then access this evidence and instruct a medical expert to interview the claimant with sight of the medical records, conduct an examination and then provide a written prognosis regarding recovery or severity of injury. This report is then used along with the advice of a Barrister to reach the appropriate settlement value for the claim.

You mention the NHS111 advice to only attend A&E if the injuries are extremely serious. Whilst that may assist you (if you can obtain a copy of a call recording), if your Mother is claiming that her injuries were serious or are ongoing, the fact that she never attended (even by way of a telephone consultation) a GP appointment in the months after the injury does weaken her claim and strengthen the position of the defendant. As things stand, you will struggle to force an offer of the value you may believe the claim to be as there is no evidence to compel the defendant to agree to do so.

There is no set timescale, but the usual process would see the interim settlement being with you in 3-4 weeks after agreement on the amount is reached.

There is no defined timescale for a new offer.

The Solicitor is correct to a point – at this stage certainly – as although slow, the courts would not find that the insurer has been unreasonable – yet! However, if the settlement is not forthcoming within the next few weeks, it may then be appropriate to consider further action to compel them to settle the claim.

It is very difficult to answer your question with any certainty as it will depend on whether there is already a hearing listed or whether your Solicitor needed that information to then apply for a hearing in court. If it is the former, the courts will make a judgment on or shortly after the listing date. If a hearing is yet to be listed, you’ll need to wait for the court to agree a date for the hearing.

There would appear to be no reasonable excuse for such a delay in releasing settlement. Has your Solicitor been chasing the settlement?

As the defendant has acknowledged the claim and required further information, it is likely that they would require 90 working days to then ‘investigate’ the claim on receipt of the additional information. As such, you would anticipate that a response would now be due.

Although your frustrations are completely justified and understandable, your Solicitor is acting correctly in affording the insurers an extension. This is most likely to be the quickest and best way to resolve this issue as the defendants are likely to return with an offer within that timescale. However, if they do not return in the extension period, it would then be reasonable to issue proceedings against them to compel them to cooperate.

The insurers and their legal team are acting correctly. Whilst the deadline has passed, it is normally expected by the courts that a claimant will offer an extension and be seen to have given every (and ample) opportunity for the 3rd party to cooperate and respond. Therefore, this deadline appears to be the correct course of action. However, we can understand that this is frustrating from a claimants point of view.

The exact thing happens to me. But it has been 6 months.. is that legal?

It is not illegal, but it is unreasonable and your Solicitor should be seeking court action to compel the other side to cooperate with you.

Injuries sustained in falls from height from a ladder can be serious and the length of time a claim will take will depend on the severity of the injuries and whether or not surgery is needed or if a full recovery is made. Generally speaking, a claim will take a minimum of 12 months to process, often longer in cases where the injuries or losses are more extreme.

Yes, I’ve had two major operations and was in hospital for 7 weeks. He has told his insurers it was his fault and I’ve told my insurers the same too. It’s been going on since October.

Are you dealing with the insurers yourself or do you have a Solicitor acting for you? The timescale you mention would not be something I would be concerned about as making a claim – especially in your situation with such serious injuries. I would imagine that your claim would take quite a long time to process to completion, as in a good couple of years. The reason for this is that you need to see how much recovery you make and what long term impact the injuries will have on you and your ability to work and be active in the future.

Our specialist Solicitors would be more than happy to take over the claim for you on a No Win No Fee basis and this would mean that you could focus on your own recovery whilst allowing a dedicated specialist personal injury Solicitor to ensure that your legal rights were being upheld and that the appropriate medical evidence and experts reports could be in place to ensure that your compensation settlement fully accounted for the severity of your injuries and also your loss of income and costs. Another benefit of having a specialist Solicitor acting for you would be that they could also seek to obtain an interim payment as soon as liability had been admitted. This may help with immediate living costs or financial difficulties you are in due to the injuries and enforced period away from work. Further, the Solicitor could seek to obtain specialist rehabilitation therapy to help you maximise your recovery at the earliest opportunity – all at the expense of the defendant insurers.

Hi I made a claim to the mib on the 27 of may 2017 and is know the 22 of January and Iv still not hear anything I had to get my solicitor medical records. How long do the mib take to payout. Thanks

There is no specific timeframe for any claim, but one would usually expect a claim with the MIB to take somewhere between 12-24 months to settle.

Can i do anything to make settle now. Iv been interviewed by mib. Iv been Examined 3 times for my injuries. Can I have my say in any of the discussion.

You can ask your Solicitor to settle the claim at the earliest opportunity.

I would have expected an admission on liability by now as so much time has passed. Do you have a Solicitor acting on this matter for you? If not, contact us for further help.

Yes I have a solicitor acting for us but to be honest they are useless and they don’t fill me with confidence, they sent us to see the medical people earlier this year2020 but they had sent us the messages from the time we saw them in 2019 so a waste of our time

Make sure you complain to your Solicitor via their complaints policy. If they do not resolve your concerns, you can then escalate the complaint to the regulatory authorities and ombudsman and seek to switch to a new Solicitor.

A claimant can expect a response within 30 working days or if not, within 3 months.

Unfortunately, this is a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question and there is no definitive answer. I assume that the defendant has denied liability initially and your Solicitor is fighting them on that. As such, it is impossible to say as it will depend on the other sides responses. However, given that a year has passed, we would hope that you are close to the stage where they will have to admit liability.

Thank you for your reply and your help. They didn’t deny liability. They were taking a long time to do their investigations and inquiries and asked for a longer time to complete them.I also submitted more pictures as the leak is still in the kitchen. My solicitors gave them a extension in june ,they then said they completed them. The councils insurers said they are waiting for their position on liability that was in june and they have been chasing both been chasing them for a decision ever since .my solicitor said they were going to make a court application, they said thought it not best. So I suppose I just have to wait. Do the council usually take this long?

I understand your frustrations and it is disappointing that the other side appear to be taking so long. However, it should be possible for this to be resolved.

Your Solicitor is clearly considering court action – but is right in that it may be prudent to wait. The courts are way behind, so a court hearing itself could be some time away.

We can certainly help your daughter make a claim for personal injury compensation on a No Win No Fee basis. We have expert specialist Solicitors able to make sure that your daughters case is handled properly and ensure that the defendants attempts at pursuit of a claim will be thrown out.

In terms of making a claim, any person has a right to make a claim if they are the non-fault party and they can do so within 3 years of the date of the accident – or within 3 years from the date of their 18th Birthday if the accident happens before they become 18.

Although it is most likely that this will be resolved in your favour, the timescale is clearly frustrating. Have you spoken with the Insurance Ombudsman service regarding this matter?

Once a settlement is agreed and signed as accepted by the claimant, settlement should follow within a relatively short space of time.

You should follow this up with the Police and see if they are willing to take any further action against the other driver. If they do, that would strengthen your claim for damages as the other driver would be seen to be the ‘at fault’ party.

As things stand, you could seek to make a claim but as neither party appears to be admitting fault, it could be seen as a 50/50 matter.

Have you instructed a specialist personal injury Solicitor to act for you in your claim? If so, they will be able to advise you further and could seek to instigate court action to compel the defendant to cooperate.

If you have not instructed a Solicitor, you can call us for help on 01225430285. Our Solicitors would be happy to help you with this matter.

Your Solicitor will allow the defendant a reasonable opportunity to respond before they take the matter to court. Whilst it is frustrating as a claimant to see a personal injury claim delayed due to non-cooperation from a defendant, it is important that your side acts reasonably. Therefore, your Solicitor will grant them the initial extension and perhaps one further one before they take the matter to court to compel the defendant to cooperate with you in this claim.

If you had a specialist Solicitor acting for you, they should be ensuring that the appropriate timescales are being adhered to with regards to settlement. As you may expect, things are a little slower than ‘normal’ at the moment and offices being closed etc, but notwithstanding such issues, it shouldn’t take too long for a payment to materialise.

Is there a time frame they should adhere to? It’s been over 12 weeks now with no communication at all seems a little long with 4 chasers sent out also?

12 weeks is a long time and could be explained – but I would have thought your Solicitor should now be threatening court.

Do you have a Solicitor acting for you in this matter? If not, please call us immediately on 01225430285 so that we can help you with your claim.

If you do have a Solicitor, please ensure that they have a copy of the recording you mention.

You need to check with your Solicitor as to whether the claim has been issued and is therefore protected from the 3 year issue – in normal circumstances you should be fine in this scenario.

Defendants will work within a prescribed time frame – your Solicitor can advise you on those. However, a defendant can also request an extension should they need additional time to investigate anything. As long as any extension request is reasonable and the extended time requested is not excessive, a Solicitor and claimant should allow the extension.

Whilst many years have passed since the claim would have been commenced, it can be the case that such matters can take many years – especially if the severity of the injury sustained is substantial.

If you are not happy (or if you are concerned) you should discuss the concerns with the Solicitor acting for you. You can also complain to them should you feel it justifiable to do so.

If liability is not disputed (that is if the defendant insurers have admitted liability), your damaged motorbike should have been repaired or replaced.

The motorbike and personal injury settlements are separate and in a claim, you should recover compensation for the injuries sustained and the impact that the injuries have had, continue to have and will have going forward. You should also be entitled to recover all incurred costs and recover losses (including damage to personal items) separately.

The defendant driver can make whatever allegations they wish. However, without evidence to back them up they are simply wasting time. However, you must remember that a Police charge is not a prosecution, so if the defendant has not yet been found guilty, they are not guilty. However, as the Police have charged the driver, it does make it difficult for them to wriggle out of liability.

Thank you Ian for your speedy reply. That clears a lot of things up for me.
I understand ‘primary liability’ has been accepted.
Therefore that means I can now push to have my motorcycle repaired/replaced?
The injury claim is separate from this & will be ongoing.
Thanks for your help, it’s been very much appreciated.

Regards,
Mick.

Best of luck with your claim!

So long as the defendants are not acting unreasonably, there is little that you can do. However, whilst a change of personnel may explain a delay, it would not be reasonable for such a delay to be very long.

You should ask your Solicitor to chase and press them regularly.

The acceptance of liability for the damage to your car should benefit you in terms of a claim for personal injury compensation. The bus company would not be paying for the damage to your vehicle if they were of the view that they were not liable.

The Solicitor acting for you is likely to be sending the prognosis of injury and recovery from the medical expert you have seen to the defendant in order to begin the process of negotiating a fair settlement for the injuries you have sustained.

Whilst you have every right to feel frustrated, the main problem here is the defendant failing to settle your claim to your instructed representatives. Although your Solicitors should have been updating you and keeping you in the loop, they appear to be acting correctly and may well have to issue proceedings to obtain your settlement.

Without knowing the full ins and outs of this matter, it is not possible to advise in any certainty. However, the fact that they have made a 2nd and final offer as things stand simply means that they are unwilling to increase the offer made to you unless you can introduce a legal expert to force such a move. Clearly, given the fact that 3 years have passed since your accident you won’t find a Solicitor able to get involved.

Whilst the council are unlikely to withdraw the offer, you should bear in mind that accepting it may be the most sensible choice at this time.

Whilst the delay is clearly frustrating, you should not be unduly concerned. Whilst the majority of settlements are paid in good time, there are a number of reasons for (and examples of) some settlements being delayed or slower in coming through.

Your Solicitor will chase the defendant accordingly and it is most likely that your settlement will soon arrive.

If your claim is up and running, there is often a period of frustration in which you do have to wait. However, it seems that you have been waiting for some time. You should certainly chase your Solicitors up and if needs be, make a formal complaint to them about the lack of updates and apparent delays in resolving your claim.

There is no set time frame for an offer of compensation to be forthcoming. It is likely that medical evidence and a medical experts report regarding your injuries and the likely long term consequences of the injuries is provided and then considered before an offer will be made.

The most likely issue here is simply one of administrational error on the part of the third party insurers and a slow process. It is highly likely that a robust ‘chasing’ by your Solicitors will get this sorted. Of course, if the defendants continue to be ‘difficult’ your Solicitor will issue proceedings to force payment by court order.

Invariably, these matters take longer than they should – not because of the claimant Solicitor, but often due to the slowness of the defendant insurers.

Whilst it is frustrating for you to wait, your Solicitor will apply pressure to them to come up with the settlement.

If you have not yet instructed a specialist personal injury Solicitor to act for you on a No Win No Fee basis, you could now make an instruction and hand the running of your claim to such a specialist. A specialist Solicitor would provide a deadline for the defendant to respond and if this deadline were not met, the Solicitor could then look to instigate court proceedings to force the defendant to cooperate.

You should make an urgent ‘complaint’ to your Solicitor about your concerns as to the handling of your claim. You should demand, in writing, an explanation of their plan of action should the insurers continue to fail to respond.

I am also getting panic attacks and using strong painkillers like deluxotine for over a year.

There is no maximum time frame to settle a claim. In many cases, when a claim is taking a long while to settle it is usually because the injuries are serious and the extent of damages to be recovered in settlement will be disputed until the acting Solicitor believes that a fair and reasonable sum has been offered.

Making a claim against an individual rather than a business is possible, but certainly not easy and there is no guarantee that the individual will have the financial cover or insurance in place to enable them to settle any claim. Therefore, the best bet is to pursue a claim against the business.

In the situation you report, your Solicitor is trying to obtain a response from the defendants. It would appear that the defendants are not responsive and whilst this is frustrating and will slow the process of your claim down, your Solicitor will know what to do. In most cases, if deadlines are not met and then further deadlines are not responded to, your Solicitor will issue a court proceeding to force them to respond.

Your bank/credit card statements and tax return are most likely needed to provide proof of identity (to satisfy Money Laundering regulations) and the tax return for proof of loss of income.

In a claim for personal injury compensation, the first important hurdle is to obtain an admission of liability. It is good news for you that this has been achieved as it confirms that you will receive compensation for your injuries and losses. However, the next stage after admission of liability is to reach agreement on the appropriate value for the claim settlement. The value of a personal injury settlement will be reached in two parts. Firstly, you have the element of personal injury settlement that is made in relation to the injuries sustained. The value of this element will be reached on the basis of medical evidence and an expert medical report that will provide a detailed prognosis on severity of injury and recovery of the same. This will then need to be considered by Counsel who will assign an appropriate value range on the basis of the medical report. You then also need to demonstrate your lost income or incurred costs caused by the injuries and accident and this will be the special damages element of the claim. The injury settlement and special damages settlement will form the total value of the compensation claim.

When agreement cannot be reached on settlement (which is not uncommon), the matter will need to be considered by an independent Judge in a court hearing. The hearing will have evidence from both the claimant and defence and then a decision will be made on the level of damages that the defendant will have to pay to settle the claim.

In your case, the defendant has missed the deadline. As such, your Solicitor will likely provide them with a further deadline to meet. If they then fail to meet that deadline, the matter will proceed directly to hearing and will be decided by the Judge – who will take in to consideration the defendants lack of cooperation.

Before you can ask how long it will take the defendant insurer to make an offer of settlement in your claim for compensation, you’ll need to obtain an admission of liability from them. To get to the stage of admission of liability can take anything from a few weeks to 4 or more months. Each claim will be different and this period will be decreased in cases where strong supporting evidence is available.

If liability is admitted, the next stage is for the injuries to be agreed by way of a medical examination with a subsequent written report from a suitable medical expert. The agreement of injuries and prognosis will then enable a settlement to be agreed. From the date of a settlement agreement, claimants should usually expect to receive their settlement somewhere between 15-30 working days.

There is not a prescribed time limit and it is unusual for settlement to take longer than 2-6 weeks to arrive (usually it is around 21 days or so). However, if the defendant insurers fail to make payment as agreed in a reasonable time (3 months), your Solicitor could issue proceedings against them to force payment.

It’s been 9 weeks since settlement figure was agreed and still no further forward. Current solicitors (on a no win no fee) have said they will pass it their Meriut team to try to recover payments. Is 9 weeks classes as a reasonable time? And what options are likely to be avaliable to enforce payment? Am I entitled to change solicitors if it’s on no win no fee or do I have to stick to the current ones which seem to be slow?

On the basis of your description of the road traffic accident, it would appear that you have a valid claim for road traffic accident compensation and you ought to expect this to settle in your favour in due course.

The insurers are within their rights to request a police report and there should be no reason why the evidence within that report does anything other than support your claim.

If you have not already got a specialist Solicitor pursuing this claim for you, then please contact us. We’d be very happy to run this claim for you and have expert specialist road traffic accident compensation Solicitors available to represent you.