Personal injury claims decline by nearly three per cent

According to the PIAB’s latest release, a total of 33,114 personal injury claims were submitted in 2017, compared to 34,056 in 2016.

The figures do not reflect the totality of personal injury claims made in Ireland as they do not include cases settled directly between parties without the claimant ever making a claim to PIAB.

The overall volume of claims made will become available when the National Claims Information Database is put in place.

The figures also reveal that the number of motor claims made to PIAB decreased by 5.1 per cent, public liability claims decreased by 3.5 per cent, and employer liability claims increased by 7.5 per cent.

The average time to assess a personal injury claim by PIAB was 7.3 months and processing costs were 6.2 per cent of the value of awards.

PIAB made 12,663 awards in 2017, compared to 12,966 awards in 2016. The total value of awards made in 2017 was €315.04 million.

In 2017, 51 per cent (6,428) of awards were of values up to €20,000. Meanwhile 33 per cent (4,519) of awards related to values of between €20,000 and €38,000 and 13 per cent (1,611) of awards were for values between €38,000 and €100,000. Less than 1 per cent of awards (105) were for sums over €100,000. The average award value increased slightly from €24,305 in 2016 to €24,879 in 2017, reflecting the nature and severity of the cases assessed during the year.

The highest award in 2017 was €605,095.

The proportional breakdown of awards remained steady. Motor liability awards accounted for 72 per cent of awards in 2017 (2016: 74 per cent). Employer liability as a proportion of awards rose slightly to 10 per cent of awards (2016: 9 per cent) while public liability increased slightly as a proportion of awards to 18 per cent of awards (17 per cent: 2016).

The counties in Ireland with the highest number of awards were Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway and the counties with the lowest number of awards were Leitrim, Roscommon, Monaghan, and Carlow.