The Compensation Myths – Is there a compensation culture?

2 minute read  |  December 5, 2017

We revisited the myths to see if they still hold true in the hope that the phrase ‘compensation myth’ will finally be put to bed.

In last week’s article, we confirmed the myth that lawyers often drag claims on unnecessarily to keep their costs up. We argued that it would be counter intuitive for lawyers to drag out claims when they would make more money by settling these cases quickly and concentrating on volume.

This week, we wanted to take a look back at the seven myths and determine why they have been so damaging to the industry as a whole.

The compensation culture

For years, the personal injury sector has been plagued by rumour and spurious comments aimed to present claimants as fraudulent and those who represent them as unscrupulous money grabbers. The reputation of the industry and those who claim compensation has suffered as a result.

As a result the myths of compensation have encouraged the government to continue to remove many of the rights of victims of negligence, something organisations like Access to Justice are working to restore.

However, the measures to reform personal injury have been watered down since the government’s original announcement, in November 2015, and there is still no sign of a government Bill in Parliament.

The truth is out there

Regardless of how the industry is perceived from an external perspective, the number of claims registered to the CRU is falling each year. The so-called ‘compensation culture’ is generated as a means of discrediting a group of professionals who work hard for the rights of ordinary people, injured through no fault of their own.

In 2014, the compensation culture was rightly labelled a myth and in 2017 it remains so. I hope that access to new information, and a focus on the facts means we don’t have revisit this issue again in another three years.

Compensation Culture – myth

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