LW597 LAW OF OBLIGATIONS
Week 12 Evidence Pack – ‘Compensation Culture’
This pack contains information on whether a ‘compensation culture’ has developed in Britain over the
past two decades. It is divided into four parts:
1. People’s perception of a worsening ‘compensation culture’
2. People’s willingness to claim compensation
3. Actual claims for compensation for personal injury
4. Numbers of personal injuries per se
5. Levels of personal injury compensation fraud
Within each part below, different sorts of information are given (along with links to the underlying
sources, if you want to investigate these in more detail). Before the seminar, read through this pack
and familiarise yourself with the information in it, and what it says about ‘compensation culture’.
Note: every piece of evidence is relevant, in one way or another, but sometimes the evidence will be
strongest if you combine two different pieces of information. In the seminar, you will be asked to
debate this issue – but before the seminar, you do not know which side you will be arguing.
As usual, speak to your seminar leader if you have questions about how to read the evidence this
pack, and about the substantive issues involved. If you have any further questions after the seminar
about the data in this pack, however, then please get in touch with me at bpb@kent.ac.uk .
This pack does not argue whether or not we can see the growth of a compensation culture. Instead,
it provides a range of evidence to enable you to decide. We hope you enjoy the detective work
involved!
Ben Baumberg, 10th December 2014
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
PART I: PERCEPTIONS OF ‘COMPENSATION CULTURE’
Evidence #1: Norwich Union opinion poll
The following figure appears in the insurer Norwich Union’s report in 2004.
Source: Norwich Union provide no details about the survey, other than to say, ‘Norwich Union
commissioned edgar galek ltd to carry out phone interviews with 1,000 UK adults in January 2004.’
The report is available from http://www.aviva.co.uk/media-centre/story/1748/who-pays-for-thecompensation-culture/
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
PART II: PEOPLE’S WILLINGNESS TO CLAIM COMPENSATION
Evidence #2: YouGov poll
YouGov – one of the best-known polling agencies in the country – have released a report called
‘Personal Injury 2014’, which costs £3850. You only have the press release available, which starts:
It also showed the following chart:
The advert for the report also notes the following: “For this report, YouGov Reports commissioned a
survey among its online panel, drawing on a nationally representative sample of 2,212 UK adults
aged 18+. This sample was then supplemented by a boost sample of 441 adults who had been
involved in a personal injury/clinical negligence claim to generate more in-depth analysis on personal
injury claims.”
Source: YouGov press release available at https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/07/30/people-sufferingpersonal-injuries-less-likely-mak/ ; the methodology statement and advert for the report is available
from http://reports.yougov.com/sectors/legal/legal-uk/personal-injury-2014/
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #3: Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) survey
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) survey published a report that contains the results
of a commissioned survey among people who have suffered a whiplash injury. Key extracts from the
report are below:
“Almost 40% of respondents to the independent survey have not claimed compensation after
suffering a whiplash injury… 20% suffer symptoms for more than a year… Almost 90% are diagnosed
by a medical professional… 80% of sufferers either report their symptoms accurately, or underplay
their symptoms."
"Respondents were clear about what they perceived to be fraudulent behaviour – and it is not just
people making claims for compensation who are in the frame:
— 90 per cent of people think claiming for an injury when you haven’t been injured is
fraudulent
— 89 per cent of people think deliberately crashing your car in order to be able to make a claim
for personal injury is fraudulent"
Methods: “In a bid to separate the myths about whiplash from the truth, APIL commissioned an
independent survey of more than 4,000 people from June to August 2012. The survey was
undertaken by Canadean Consumer research, a leading independent market research company, via
its online omnibus panel. In total, four waves of the survey went to Canadean’s online omnibus
panel between June and August, with responses provided by separate nationally representative
samples (reflecting the UK adult population above the age of 18).”
Source: APIL (2012), The Whiplash Report 2012: Myth or Fact?
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
PART III: ACTUAL CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION
Evidence #4: CRU data on personal injury claims
Trends in personal injury claims in Britain, by claim type (000s of cases)
Motor
Employer
1973 (estimate)
103
1988 (estimate)
1997/98
2000/01
402
2001/02
400
2002/03
399
2003/04
375
2004/05
403
2005/06
460
519
2006/07
552
2007/08
625
2008/09
675
2009/10
Change in data collection method
791
2010/11
828
2011/12
818
2012/13
773
2013/14
Public
Clinical
negligence
Other
Not
known
Total
118
<28
<1
219
171
183
291
254
119
98
87
87
79
96
101
110
91
87
82
80
79
86
91
11
10
8
7
7
9
9
9
10
10
≈8
≈6
≈7
≈6
≈25
≈4
4
3
3
3
2
2
1
3
250
340
705
736
688
707
770
776
674
711
733
812
861
81
87
91
105
95
105
103
104
13
14
16
18
4
4
18
14
3
2
2
2
987
1,041
1,048
1,017
Sources
1) The data from 1997/8 onwards comes from the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU). This data is a byproduct of the state’s scheme for recovering benefit payments from tort damages, where both result from
the same accident/disease. The CRU note on their website, ‘The way we collect data changed in 2010’,
without providing any further explanation.
1997-8 to 2005/6 data is taken from Lewis & Morris 2012 (Journal of Law & Society 39:562-592), with
more recent data available from
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/306064/casesregistered-cru-2013-14.csv/preview [accessed 10/12/2014].
2) The 1988 data is a rough estimate from the Civil Justice Review, cited by Lewis & Morris 2012 (ibid.).
Lewis & Morris note, “This estimate is given with no indication of the facts upon which it is based.”
3)
The 1973 data is an estimate from the Pearson Commission 1978, Report of the Royal Commission on Civil
Liability and Compensation for Personal Injury, cited by Lewis & Morris 2012 (ibid.).
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
PART IV: NUMBERS OF PERSONAL INJURIES PER SE
Evidence #5: Road traffic accidents reported the police
Reported personal injury road accidents, by severity, Great Britain, 1979-2013
Number of accidents
Year
_________________
Fatal
_____
Serious
_______
FSA
(Fatal/Serious)
_____________
Slight
______
Total
______
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
5,824
5,506
5,355
5,450
5,027
66,927
65,714
64,980
66,143
60,021
72,751
71,220
70,335
71,593
65,048
182,216
179,738
177,941
184,414
177,828
254,967
250,958
248,276
256,007
242,876
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
5,138
4,768
4,898
4,694
4,643
62,048
60,286
58,190
54,352
53,850
67,186
65,054
63,088
59,046
58,493
185,997
180,591
184,790
180,017
188,501
253,183
245,645
247,878
239,063
246,994
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
4,907
4,748
4,158
3,855
3,470
53,269
50,944
43,773
41,494
38,042
58,176
55,692
47,931
45,349
41,512
202,583
202,749
187,958
187,755
187,463
260,759
258,441
235,889
233,104
228,975
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
3,326
3,286
3,274
3,298
3,137
39,295
38,501
37,327
36,330
34,633
42,621
41,787
40,601
39,628
37,770
191,633
188,757
195,592
200,659
201,153
234,254
230,544
236,193
240,287
238,923
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
3,138
3,108
3,176
3,124
3,247
33,267
32,499
31,588
30,521
28,913
36,405
35,607
34,764
33,645
32,160
198,643
198,122
194,250
188,106
181,870
235,048
233,729
229,014
221,751
214,030
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2,978
2,913
2,926
2,714
2,341
26,748
25,029
24,946
24,322
23,121
29,726
27,942
27,872
27,036
25,462
177,684
170,793
161,289
155,079
145,129
207,410
198,735
189,161
182,115
170,591
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2,057
1,731
1,797
1,637
1,608
21,997
20,440
20,986
20,901
19,624
24,054
22,171
22,783
22,538
21,232
139,500
132,243
128,691
123,033
117,428
163,554
154,414
151,474
145,571
138,660
Source: DfT STATS19
Source: The table above refers to road traffic accidents reported to the police, and is taken directly
from the Department for Transport’s website, Table RAS10013 from the 2013 road casualty statistics
release at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-great-britainannual-report-2013 .
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #6: Total numbers of road traffic accidents in the UK
It is surprisingly difficult to get a good estimate of the number of road traffic accidents in the UK.
The police regularly release statistics on the number of accidents reported to them, but a study by
Matthew Tranter (a researcher at the Department of Transport) notes, “It has long been known that
a considerable proportion of non-fatal casualties are not known to the police and hospital, survey
and compensation claims data all indicate a higher number of casualties than are reported.”
Tranter’s ‘best estimate’ is based on the National Travel Survey in 2008, a nationally representative
survey of people in Britain. This relies on people’s self-reports about whether they have been
involved in a road traffic accident in the last year. They find that:
- 14% of adults say they have been involved in a road traffic accident in the past three years;
- 4% of adults say they were injured in a road traffic accident in the past three years;
- Of those who report an injury, 73% reported minor injuries (including 55% who reported
whiplash), and 27% reported a more serious injury.
Tranter uses this information (with various sensible adjustments) to estimate that there are about
680,000-920,000 road traffic casualties in Britain in 2007/8, of which 610,000-830,000 were slightly
injured and 40,000-120,000 were seriously injured. The majority of these were not recorded in the
police data above.
Source: Matthew Tranter (2009), ‘Comparing police data on road accidents with other sources’, in
Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2008 Annual Report, Department for Transport.
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #7: Hospital data on causes of home and leisure accidents
Articles involved in home and leisure accidents resulting in hospitalisation, 2002
Article category
Construction a feature of building
Electrical wiring or accessory
Lighting equipment
Water, bathroom or sanitary system
Heating or ventilating equipment
Recording or communication equipment
Furniture
Furnishing
Household linen decoration or other item
Cooking, eating or kitchen equipment
Washing, cleaning or laundry equipment
Washing or cleaning product/preparation
Ladder or support equipment
DIY building etc. tool or machines
Garden or farm equipment or tool
Sewing or knitting equipment
Office, school or writing equipment
Building supplies or raw material
Fuel or chemical
Transport
Toy, game, novelty, joke, firework,etc
Leisure or hobby equipment
Sport equipment
Fairground or playground equipment
Clothing or footware
Personal effect, hygiene or care item
Mobility aid or baby transport
Carrying equipment (bag,case,trolley, etc)
Safety or security or clothing
Animal’s item
Food or drink
Medicine
Container or wrapping
Person
Animals or insect
Outdoor surface (grass,road,ice,etc)
Plants or trees
Natural feature of landscape or garden
Built feature in garden, street, etc
Miscellaneous or vaguely specified article
Unspecified article
TOTAL
Source is detailed on next page.
Articles involved in
home accidents
1,020,941
13,715
10,886
61,193
33,866
27,491
408,606
216,050
26,404
159,449
64,780
14,473
47,827
87,494
44,280
12,526
19,762
183,721
14,535
90,549
41,902
2,788
69,823
22,345
694,028
89,913
31,960
12,116
16,708
9,307
130,852
23,473
59,204
295,241
116,522
359,345
53,095
37,515
56,970
106,477
300,305
Articles involved in
leisure accidents
437,163
2,276
1,866
6,355
3,813
2,706
85,977
28,188
1,968
12,157
7,380
1,046
4,367
11,747
3,567
3,034
11,993
91,533
5,761
345,671
12,546
3,342
575,845
72,714
894,251
26,650
21,935
30,873
27,839
7,196
106,600
3,403
20,828
657,374
137,678
1,291,295
42,087
113,160
102,808
69,413
404,342
5,088,428
5,690,739
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Note: there were 2,701,326 home accidents and 2,876,294 leisure accidents in 2002, but nearly
twice the number of articles involved in accidents in the table above. This is because some accidents
involve multiple articles.
Source: this is 2002 data from the Home & Leisure Accident Surveillance System, which measured
the causes of accidents in a representative sample of Accident & Emergency departments in the UK.
The data were Government-funded, but since 2002 no funding has been available to collect more
recent data.
The 2002 are made available by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents at
http://www.hassandlass.org.uk/ . More detailed data are available for each of the categories above
– e.g. within the ‘water, bathroom or sanitary system’ category, we know that 226 accidents in 2002
were related to ‘jacuzzis’ – which you can see by downloading the 2002 data from the link above,
and looking at the table on p141-175.
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #8: Injuries at work
The Health and Safety Executive compile a number of different statistics into the following
infographic:
Methods: various different methods go into the figures above:
- ‘Fatal injury’, ‘Major/specified injury reported by employers’ and ‘All injuries reported by
employers’: these come from RIDDOR, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations, “under which fatal and defined non-fatal injuries to workers and
members of the public are reported by employers. Certain types of work-related injury are
not reportable under RIDDOR, hence excluded from these figures. Particular exclusions
include fatalities and injuries to the armed forces and injuries from work-related road
collisions.”
-
Self-reported injuries: these are workers’ self-reported injuries from the Labour Force
Survey, based on a representative sample of 44,000 households within the British
population each quarter. (This is also the survey that the published unemployment statistics
come from).
Source: This is available from their website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/at-a-glance.pdf ; the
full Health and Safety Statistics Annual Report detailing the methods is available from
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/hssh1314.pdf .
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #9: Reported clinical accidents
Patient safety incidents in England and Wales reported by NHS staff
The commentary on the release notes the reported degree of harm associated with the 410,408
patient safety incidents in early 2014 was: no harm (69.4%), low harm (24.3%), moderate harm
(5.7%), and severe harm or death (0.7%).
Source: These are taken from the NHS National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). These data
are taken from the NRLS Quarterly data workbook: Oct 2003-Jun 2014, available at
http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/?EntryId45=135304
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Evidence #10: Estimated clinical accidents (including unreported accidents)
A 2009 Select Committee (a group of MPs across all parties, based at the Houses of Parliament and
independent of Government) on patient safety stated the following:
“…as the NPSA (National Patient Safety Agency) itself acknowledges, there is very significant underreporting of safety incidents…. So figures for reported incidents are not a reliable indicator of how
many incidents actually take place in the NHS.
“We sought to clarify what is known about the harm done to patients. Richard Thomson, Professor
of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, told us that the best available data
on the overall extent of harm to NHS patients in England consist of "hospital case note review
studies,[30] the studies that have looked at medical records of patients", which "demonstrate that
around 10% of admissions to hospital suffer some form of harm".[31] These data show that, in
between a third and half of admissions associated with harm, that harm was preventable. The DH's
memorandum of written evidence for this inquiry states that these findings are consistent with
those of similar studies in other developed countries.[32]”
“All such studies are associated with important methodological problems. Firstly, it can be difficult to
decide whether or not an adverse event was avoidable… Secondly, the criteria used to determine
avoidability can vary between studies and consistency can be hard to achieve even among
researchers in the same study… Thirdly, as well as the problems in determining preventability, there
are particular issues relating to deaths associated with unsafe care. Often, these are the deaths of
patients who were very ill with an already poor prognosis regarding their original illness or condition.
In such circumstances, determining whether a death counts as an "excess death" (one attributable
wholly to the adverse event) is difficult, and sometimes, impossible.”
“Despite the limitations of case note review data, and the Department's failure to ensure the
production of better data, it is clear that a great deal of harm is done to patients in the NHS—as it is
in all healthcare systems. The international studies mentioned above put the rate of adverse events
in acute care at between 2.7% and 16.6%. Even at the lower end of the range this represents a huge
amount of harm given the millions of patients treated.”
Source: House of Commons Health Committee (2009), Sixth Report of Session 2008-09: Patient
Safety, available from
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhealth/151/15102.htm (the
quoted text is from section 3 at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhealth/151/15106.htm#n30 ).
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
PART V: LEVELS OF PERSONAL INJURY COMPENSATION FRAUD
Evidence #11: Insurance industry estimates of ‘Crash for Cash’ fraud
In 2013, the Insurance Fraud Bureau – funded by the insurance industry – released ‘Crash for Cash’
(http://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/files/misc_pdfs/ifb_crash_for_cash_report_online.pdf). It
defines ‘Crash for Cash’ as “to stage or deliberately cause a road traffic collision solely for the
purpose of financial gain.” It summarises the scale on ‘Crash for Cash’ via this page:
However, no information is provided within the report or on the website that provides any
information on how this estimate is calculated.
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015
Other estimates
An earlier estimate from the Insurance Fraud Bureau that there were 30,000 staged collisions in 2009
has also been quoted by the Association of Chief Police Officers (at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmtran/591/591we19.htm) and
then a House of Parliament Select Committee
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmtran/591/59107.htm#n1082).
Again, no information is publicly available on how these figures were estimated.
A 2014 report by the insurers Aviva had the following box on ‘crash for cash’:
Taken from the report at http://www.aviva.com/media/news/item/uk-tackle-uks-compensationculture-to-cut-50-off-motor-premiums-says-aviva-17331/
© University of Kent Q-Step Centre 2015