Claimant solicitors will finally have the ability to perform background fraud checks on new clients, as insurance companies will open up data next month.
The insurance industry’s lack of data sharing has contradicted their claims that they are motivated only by removing fraud from the industry when pushing for the whiplash reforms,
That will all change moving forwards as years of campaigning for better access to fraud data from the personal injury sector has finally been listened to and acted upon and on the 5th of May the new askCUE personal injury service will go live.
Scott Rees and Co Partner, David Byrne, was upbeat about how useful the new service will be. He said: “For the personal injury profession this has been a long time overdue. For the past few years we have had to listen to the Government and the insurers describe reform that has crippled our industry, as for the good of tackling fraud, while the importance of data sharing has been ignored.”
“I am confident that the ability to run background checks on a clients claim history will have more of an effect in reducing the level of fraud within the industry than most of the ridiculous reforms that have been imposed on our industry and I am talking real effects not artificial ones, whereby claiming has been made near impossible for the victim.”
It will cost all users of the system that are handling more than 10 cases a year, £110 to register and usage of the service will become mandatory in June.
The Director of General Insurance Policy at the ABI, James Dalton, was also upbeat about the service’ development, saying: “The development and delivery of the service is a tangible demonstration of what can be achieved when our sectors work together.”
“There’s plenty that we disagree on, but getting fraudsters and cheats out of the personal injury claims system is something we all agree on, which is why the delivery of askCue is an important milestone in the ongoing fight against fraud.”
The new system was the end product of a joint project put together by APIL, MASS and the ABI and is a real step in the right direction when it comes to tackling fraud within the industry.
There has been widespread praise across the industry for the new service. Law Society President, Catherine Dixon, said: “The new system means the legal profession and the insurance industry can crack down on fraudulent claims.”
Susan Brown, chairman of MASS, reiterated saying that the system was the product of four years work and an ‘important step’ in greater collaboration across the industry.