What can legal businesses do to withstand the Whiplash reforms?

The personal injury sector is changing.

The past year has affected all businesses, and law firms are not immune. Changes to the way we work and a move away from offices has put greater dependence on technology, in many cases requiring a vital upgrade in systems used.

And the challenges are not over. In May, the Government are expected to finally implement the revisions to the Civil Liability Act known as the “whiplash reforms”, which themselves are set to hit the personal injury sector hard.

For those firms specialising in road traffic accidents (RTA), the introduction of the Official Injury Claims portal and raising of the Small Claims Limit will at best reduce the amount of work available to these businesses, resulting in job losses, and at worst add pressure to their remaining teams to be able to properly advise the influx of confused claimants who don’t know how their claim should be handled.

The lack of clarity given so far by the Government means these companies are already feeling the strain of uncertainty – unable to amend their processes, train their staff and adjust their systems for an overhaul in their business that is just three months away. Many are being forced to make difficult decisions about the future of their work in this sector.

As Qamar Anwar, Managing Director of the marketing collective First4Lawyers recently commented:

“Some of our member firms have told us they are leaving RTA altogether, while others may offer a limited service, assisting claimants through the portal for a small fixed fee, but without offering advice and guidance. A number have still to decide.”

For those that continue in the sector, revising their current processes is going to be vital for post-reform business. Zeus Technology Solutions can provide that support.

A solution for businesses

Zeus’s expert team of legal technology professionals have been following the progress of the whiplash reforms since the beginning, in order to best understand the needs of businesses and clients once they are implemented. We’ve set up a number of solutions based on our wide-ranging service model that will help RTA businesses streamline their processes and reduce costs to cope with the upcoming changes.

Our leading Proclaim integration and support services can adapt your systems to better integrate with other legal software packages and set up new functionality for managing claims affected by the reforms. We’re working on brand new solutions that can streamline your processes and add better flexibility for these and future changes in the law.

Our IT and administrative support outsourcing services can also take much of the pressure off your teams. We can offer inbound and outbound call handling and lead capture services that will direct potential claimants to the most suitable solution, reducing your time and cost spent managing low or no value claims.

The future

The effects of the whiplash reforms go beyond the initial changes to RTA claims. The introduction of the Official Injury Claims portal signals the Government’s intention to introduce a greater reliance on technology solutions in the future. More of these automated systems are now likely to be considered for various purposes in the coming years, which makes it vital for legal businesses to keep up with the changes in processes.

We’ve already seen how technology has become more vital for day to day work in the last year. Now more than ever, businesses need fully up-to-date systems with greater support for future development. With Zeus Tech Solutions you can ensure that your legal business stays at the forefront of industry technology, so you’re able to adapt to the latest needs in a fast and cost-effective way.

Contact Zeus today to discuss the future of your business.