Motor injury claims fall to lowest level on record

Figures obtained by the claimant-facing Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) following a freedom of information request show that motor injury claims in the fourth quarter of 2025 fell by 24% to 63,833. This was comfortably the lowest quarterly figures on record.

On an annual basis, motor claims reduced by 14% to 282,428 while the total number of personal injury claims fell by 12% to 413,323.

As a comparison, in 2018 there were 876,562 claims in total, of which 667,377 were motor claims, meaning a 53% fall in all claims and a 58% fall in motor.

The figures were obtained from the Compensation Recovery Unit, which is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and considered a trustworthy source for claims numbers.

The fall is due to several factors. It is now more than seven years since the Civil Liability Act received royal assent and almost five years since the introduction of an online portal for handling lower-value RTA claims. This came with a new tariff for claims which significantly reduced the level of compensation for different categories of injuries.

The consequence of this has been a contraction of the personal injury market, with a number of firms closing their PI books and leaving just a handful of firms dominating the sector.

The government is currently reviewing the whiplash reform programme, including the statutory definition of a whiplash injury, the fixed tariff of damages for whiplash injuries where the duration of the injury (or injuries) does not exceed two years, and the ban on seeking or offering to settle a whiplash claim without medical evidence.

The review will also consider the supporting secondary legislative change to increase the small claims track limit from £1,000 to £5,000 for road traffic accident-related personal injury claims.