Whiplash bill is ruse to harm workers’ rights | Letters

Increasing the small claims limit to £2,000 would mean that workers suffering injuries that include a collapsed lung, a fractured wrist or elbow and loss of front teeth, are denied access to justice, write five trade union general secretaries

On Tuesday of next week, the civil liability bill is expected to complete its passage through parliament. The government say that the bill will tackle a whiplash “epidemic”, but it hides a £1.3bn annual gift to the insurers, a loss to government coffers of £146m a year, and an assault on access to justice that will impact hundreds of thousands of people whose claims have nothing to do with whiplash.

By statutory instrument, the government plans to sneak through a doubling of the small claims limit, below which injured people don’t get their legal fees paid. Up to 40% of those injured at work will lose their rights. Thousands of workers will be left fighting insurers on their own and in their own time. Injured people whose claim has a value of up to £2,000 – thousands of people a year – will be expected to take on well-funded insurers on their own.

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