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Insurance eNews | October 2023

The application of fixed recoverable costs in personal injury claims from 1 October 2023

From 1 October 2023, fixed recoverable costs (FRC) have been updated and extended across the fast track and in a new intermediate track for cases with values of up to £100,000 damages by way of implementation of The Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2 Rules). The new intermediate track has been developed with the aim of providing transparency and certainty with regards to costs in litigation; it will cover claims between the value of £25,000 to £100,000.

Does pre-action disclosure need a shake up?

Many of us will be familiar with the content of the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury and in particular Annex C which sets out the standard disclosure lists that a Defendant must consider when formulating a response to a new claim under the pre-action protocol. Currently the protocol sets out different lists of disclosure documents which may be required for various claim types such as RTA's, highway tripping and workplace accidents.

Improving road safety with cycle helmets

According to the latest statistics from the DfT, there were 16,294 reported road traffic accidents involving pedal cyclists in 2020. Pedal cyclist casualties in 2020 stood at 12,472, with 141 fatalities, 4,215 serious injuries, and 11,938 slight injuries. These figures do not take into account under reporting of incidents to the police, especially for minor incidents.

RAAC - What next?

As you will no doubt be well aware by now, the Government have instigated some emergency school closures due to the potential failure of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in school buildings. If you have been contacted by the Government that your school is affected, you should be provided with a case manager to assist you through the process but essentially you will be required to bring into effect your business continuity plan.

School not liable for abuse by work experience student

The Court of Appeal has ruled in the case of MXX v a Secondary School, dismissing the claimant's appeal against a finding that the school was not vicariously liable for sexual assaults against her by a work placement student.

ICO Guidance: Organisations will not be censured for sharing information aimed at protecting children/young persons at risk

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued guidance that makes clear that organisations "will not get in trouble" if they share information to protect children and young people at risk of serious harm. The commissioner has thus addressed concerns from organisations and frontline workers that are worried about sharing sensitive information for fear of falling foul of data protection law. The document offers a 10 step guide on data protection considerations when sharing personal information for child safeguarding purposes.

£3m fine for waste management company after two deaths

A waste management firm has been fined a total of £3 million following the deaths of two workers in separate incidents.

Michael Atkin and Mark Wheatley died following incidents in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated both incidents and subsequently prosecuted Valencia Waste Management Limited, formerly known as Viridor Waste Management Limited.

Listen to our latest episode of the Forbes Let's Talk: Insurance Edition podcast with Nicola Dawn

On this episode, Partner Nicola Dawn welcomes Partner, Tim Smith.

In 25 minutes Nicola and Tim manage to cover all things from how Tim went from a career in construction to the legal sector, all you need to know about Japanese knotweed, the go to fish and chip shop and the classics on our Forbes’ Pride Party Playlist.

Full episode available to listen to on all podcast platforms by searching 'Forbes Let's Talk' or click the video below to watch on YouTube.

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