The volume and total value of personal injury claims has fallen significantly since the introduction of judicial guidelines on awards in 2021, data shows.
There has been a 40 per cent fall in claim volumes between 2019 – the year before the pandemic – and 2023, new figures on applications to the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) show.
The reduced level of claims has persisted into 2024, according to provisional figures for last year, so the evidence supports the interpretation that the new guidelines are having an effect, said Dr Lauren Swan, head of research and policy at the board.
The data shows that the total value of public liability claims is also down, with the 2023 figure 37 per cent lower than the figure for 2019.
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The IRB, formerly the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, is a State body put in place to help people resolve personal injury claims without having to go to court. It deals with road traffic, public liability and workplace personal injury claims.
The judicial guidelines introduced a reduction in the damages awarded for lower and moderately severe injuries, but an uplift in respect of catastrophic injuries. It was hoped that lower rates for most injuries would lead to a drop in the cost of insurance premiums.
Reacting to the report, the Alliance for Insurance Reform said the only thing increasing faster than public liability premiums in recent years has been insurer profits.
“Today’s report shows that this was happening against a backdrop of significantly reducing public liability claims across whole sectors of our economy,” said the chair of the alliance, Vincent Jennings. “It is unconscionable really.”
The data shows a drop of more than half in the number of claims brought against cafes, hotels and restaurants between 2019 and 2023, a drop of 44 per cent in respect of shops, and a 38 per cent drop in the sports and athletic sector.
However, there was an increase of 22 per cent in claims involving residential institutions, mostly arising from fatal incidents in long-term care settings during the pandemic.
The board conducted a study of the childcare sector, which has historically reported high public liability premiums, and found there were only 256 claims over the five years to 2023, despite almost 170,000 children being enrolled in 2020/2021 alone.
Board chief executive Rosalind Carroll said the data reveals a “remarkably low volume” of public liability claims in childcare, “an area that affects so much of society”.
Claims arising from assaults on visitors to businesses and public places increased by 10 per cent between 2022 and 2023, and 10 per cent again the following year, mirroring a similar trend in workplace claims, where there was a 9 per cent increase in claims associated with assaults in 2023.
For assault claims from visitors to businesses, the most affected sectors were cafes, hotels and restaurants. The claims were usually against security staff, or involved allegations of contributory negligence arising from overcrowding or inadequate security, Dr Swan said. Workplace assault claims mostly involved the healthcare sector.
The research shows that people aged over 65 years – approximately 15 per cent of the population – accounted for 31 per cent of outdoor fall claims, and that 60 per cent of claims from that demographic involved moderate to serious injuries. Uneven footpaths accounted for almost half of the total (€9 million) paid out arising from outdoor falls.
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