The "Personal Injury Market Trends Report 2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Value growth in the personal injury (PI) market stalled in 2020 as the pandemic hit claims numbers and revenues for many firms while cashflows were impacted by delays in completing cases. There was a 1.5% decline in market value in 2020 although larger PI firms performed much better than the rest of the market.
The last 12 months have seen the divide between the larger players and many of the smaller firms grow even further: most of the larger firms have invested in customer-facing online systems to continue to operate in the new small claims regime while many smaller firms will have to make some major decisions, if they have not already done so, on whether they can continue to operate in the RTA claims sector.
At the very least, if firms decide to stay in the PI market then we can expect a restructuring of many PI teams and redundancies. There will be more diversification into new claims segments but what is not clear is how large these specific sectors can be and, as more firms move into these markets, competition will intensify.
The latest figures for 2020/21 from the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) emphasise the impact of the pandemic as cases registered have fallen across all categories but especially for motor claims. The number of cases registered was already falling before 2020 but the decrease has been exacerbated by COVID-19. In the year 2020/21, total cases registered were 564,359, a decrease of 32% on the previous year. Motor-related cases registered dropped to 446,976 in 2020/21, a 32% fall on 653,052 cases registered in 2019/20.
Demand in most of the main PI claims sectors is expected to increase marginally in the second half of 2021 in particular and to increase at a stronger pace in 2022, albeit from a very low base in 2020. Market value is expected to grow modestly by 1.8% in 2021. Market revenue growth should start to improve even further in 2022 and beyond.
Despite the repercussions of the pandemic and the launch of the new small claims limit in May 2021, PI practitioners are slightly more optimistic than a year ago although a majority still have concerns.
The results of an annual survey of 60 personal injury practitioners carried out in June 2021 are included in the report:
- 18% of firms surveyed experienced reduced workloads in the last year, the same as in the 2020 survey. However, the percentage experiencing an increase in volumes increased to 42% from just 25% in 2020.
- There are 47% of firms that are expecting PI workload to increase in the next 12 months compared to 43% in 2020.
Key Topics Covered:
Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Market Characteristics
- Civil Liability Act Finally Introduced in May 2021
- Rta and Industrial Accident/Injury Claims Decline in the Pandemic
- Market Value Decrease in 2020 and Only Limited Growth in 2021
- Despite the Pandemic Pi Practitioners Are More Optimistic Than a Year Ago
Introduction
- Definition
Market Structure
- The Main Types of Personal Injury Work
- Four Main Market Participants
- The Number of Solicitors and Legal Companies
Market Developments and Drivers
- Overview
- Personal Injury Reforms Come into Force With Fixed Tariffs for Whiplash Injuries
- Small Claims Limit for Non-Rta Cases Scaled Back
- Cross-Sector Working Group on Mixed Injury Claims
- New Rules on Qualified One Way Costs Shifting (Qocs) in Scotland
- Remote Medical Examinations Still Here But Under Review by Medco
- Review of New Protocol for Pi Claims During Covid-19
- Report from Working Group on Low Value Claims
- Fewer Than 1 in 5 Pi Solicitors Have a Strategy for the Whiplash Reforms
- Results from Minster Law Pilot Says Adr is the Way Forward
- Compulsory Adr a Possibility in the Future?
The Key Players
- Overview
- Mergers, Acquisitions and Closures
- Key Players
- Admiral Law Ltd
- Bott Co Ltd
- Dlg Legal Services Ltd
- Express Solicitors Ltd
- First4Lawyers
- Fletchers Solicitors Ltd
- Neil Hudgell Ltd
- Injurylawyers4U
- Irwin Mitchell Llp
- Leigh Day
- Lyons Davidson Ltd
- Minster Law Ltd
- Nahl Group
- Redde/New Law Solicitors
- Simpson Millar Llp
- Slater and Gordon Lawyers
- Stewarts Law Llp
- Thompsons Solicitors Llp
- Winn Solicitors Ltd
Market Size and Trends
- Rtas Declining Year-On-Year Before Covid But Steeper Decline in 2020
- Workplace Injuries Decline to the Lowest Level in Last 7 Years
- The Number of Serious Workplace Injuries is Also in Decline
- Claims for Criminal Injuries Decrease in 2020/21
- Market Value Decrease in 2020
- The Volume of Cases Registered With the Cru Impacted by Covid
- Over £320M in Total Recovered
- Number of Pi Claims Heard in Courts Decreases for Third Year Running
- Cn Claims Increase But Expenditure on Claims Falls
- Claims Portal Figures
The Future
- Market Weakness Continues in 2021 and Uncertainty for 2022
- Market Forecasts 2021-2024
- Personal Injury Practitioner Survey Signs of a Little More Optimism
Associations
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6ujyhz
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210811005356/en/
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