The whiplash reforms, and the new Official Injury Claim service portal, were introduced at the end of May 2021. Before implementation, the Ministry of Justice had carried out extensive consultation about the claims process, the statutory tariff for damages and the change to the small claims limit. This latter aspect had also been considered by the Justice Select Committee back in 2018.

The Committee is now showing renewed interest in the reforms and on 9 February commenced a fresh inquiry which will be open for responses for a short period, until 17 March 2023. We would expect the Committee also to arrange to hear oral evidence from key stakeholders later in the spring.

The inquiry's terms of reference (linked below) look to be carefully drafted and suggest that the exercise will be a robust examination of how the reforms - implemented via part 1 of the Civil Liability Act 2018 - are working in practice as well as bringing close scrutiny to the impacts of the changes on claimants, compensators and the legal sector.

Part 2 of the statute is also under consideration, in the form of the Ministry of Justice's current call for evidence on the personal injury discount rate. It is therefore clear that during the first half of 2023 the 2018 Act will remain, some five years on, at the front and centre of the debate on personal injury compensation policy.