Personal injury victims benefit from transparent and smooth claims handling. Just as important is that the victim can work on recovery and get back to life. Insurers offer support in this pursuit of targeted recovery.
For victims, it is important that compensation is paid in a transparent manner. And that the amount received is similar to what other victims in the same situation receive.
The Dutch Association of Insurers, the ANWB and Victim Support Netherlands, want to ensure that personal injury victims receive clarity more quickly and easily about what compensation they will receive. The organisations expect that victims will be better supported in this way. That is why they have signed a letter of intent .
Personal injury cases have a lot of impact. For example, the victim may have to follow a lengthy medical trajectory, become permanently disabled or no longer be able to work. Emotions therefore play a major role in personal injury cases. For both the victim and the liable party, an accident with injury or death is extremely drastic. Contact between the victim and the perpetrator can help with processing. For more information, visit www.contacthelpt.nl.
Every year, insurers handle approximately 75,000 personal injury cases, with a total claim burden of around 1.5 billion per year. In recent years, this cost of claims has increased (per event). This is partly due to the increase in the retirement age and increasing life expectancy. As a result, personal injury victims have to bridge a longer period without income.
If a victim is in need of assistance, he or she can turn to an advocate. It's important to find a qualified advocate who knows their stuff. A list of qualified representatives can be found in the NKL register.
Utrecht University has conducted research into long-term personal injury cases on behalf of the Personal Injury Council. This shows that cases are indeed open for a long time, but no one is to blame for that. The top 3 reasons why a case is open for a long time consist of:
The results of the Utrecht University study are in line with previous research commissioned by the Association and carried out by the Platform for Personal Injury (PPP). This shows that about ninety percent of personal injury cases are settled within the target period of two years. Delays mainly occur in complex cases, where recovery is a lengthy process. For example, if there is a serious brain injury or injury to young children. In practice, it is even irresponsible in such cases to determine the damage within the two-year period.
Insurers and other parties involved have taken important steps in recent years to focus even more on the position of the victim. These initiatives can be divided into two categories: long-term solutions (an independent claims handling desk) and short-term solutions (optimisation of the current system). You can find these below.
Together with the ANWB and Victim Support Netherlands, the Association wants to ensure that personal injury victims receive clarity about their compensation more quickly and easily. They expect injury victims to recover faster as a result. To this end, they have signed a letter of intent .
The statement also resulted in the new Think Tank 'Simplified Claims Handling Personal Injury Cases' . In the coming year, a group consisting of scientists, advocates, lawyers, loss adjusters and insurers will delve into the question: What are the possibilities for a simplified system for settling personal injury cases?
The Association also argues for a claim settlement in which it is clear to the victim what compensation he can receive. In addition, the way in which the compensation was established must be transparent.
And similar cases must be treated the same, including in cases of advance payment. In other words, it should not depend on the representative or the insurer what amount a victim receives. Of course, there must be and remain room to take into account the specific circumstances of the victim.
At the request of the Dutch Association, Prof. Michael Faure has conducted international comparative law research . He looked at how personal injury claims are handled in Belgium, Ireland and Sweden, and investigated whether this also leads to simplification of claims handling.
Both personal injury victims and insurers benefit from a proactive approach to the handling of long-term personal injury cases. Because this is not possible in all cases, the Personal Injury Council has set up an independent disputes committee: Chamber Long-Term Personal Injury Cases (Chamber LLZ). It offers accessible, fast dispute resolution and is independent. The Chamber LLZ consists of a chairman and three members appointed by the board of the Personal Injury Council.
The first cases have now been successfully completed. The parties involved have indicated that they find the speed of action a relief. Victim Support Netherlands and the ANWB are also strong supporters of the use of the Chamber LLZ.
In 2021, outgoing minister Tamara van Ark painted the picture that there are interest groups that provide no or insufficient information, causing delays in the settlement of claims. Insurers recognise that image. Unfortunately, because this is not in the interest of the victim. The Association therefore investigates how often victims become victims for a second time due to bad practices of advocates.
Incidentally, the Association is well aware that there are also many good advocates, with knowledge of the facts. Fortunately, the Personal Injury Council wants to provide a good quality representative of victims with a National Quality Mark for Personal Injury , because unfortunately they also have bad practices on the agenda.
Insurers make every effort to help personal injury victims quickly and adequately. If, in a situation, it is better for a victim to first turn to the municipality in the context of the Social Support Act (Wmo), you may do so. Municipalities can recover the costs incurred from the liability insurer.
Sometimes there are good reasons to point out to personal injury victims that there are better options through the municipality. An example is that someone can claim an adapted home much faster through the municipality. After all, the municipality is better able to offer certain facilities or solutions on a number of points, with or without the help of a declaration of urgency.
If a personal injury victim invokes the Social Support Act provisions of his municipality because he has sustained injuries caused by someone else, the municipality may charge these costs to the insurer of the person who caused the accident. When the Social Support Act was introduced in 2015, the Association and the Association of Dutch Municipalities entered into a recourse agreement to simplify this so-called redress process for both the municipality and the insurer. In that agreement, the right of recourse of the municipalities was collectively bought off by means of an annual lump sum payment. The WMO recourse agreement ended in 2019.
In order to help municipalities with their recourse claim, insurers created a simple format in 2019. This 'Wmo notification letter for municipalities' has been shared with the VNG and can be found under the heading 'publications' at the bottom of this page.
Out-of-court costs
Liability insurers and interest groups have reached agreement on a new regulation for Extrajudicial Costs (BKB).
This new scheme and associated scale came into effect on 1 September 2021 and will continue until 1 July 2024.
Actuarial interest is the interest rate used to calculate future damages. If a victim receives a lump sum when settling his case, the (safe) return that can be achieved and inflation are taken into account when determining that amount. Actuarial interest is therefore the difference between yield and inflation.
In July 2021, two consultative bodies of judges made new recommendations on actuarial interest for the handling of long-term personal injury cases.
Insurers who are members of the Association must comply with the Code of Conduct for the Treatment of Personal Injury (GBL). This code of conduct contains rules for a transparent and adequate handling of personal injury cases. For example, insurers are obliged to be assessed by an independent agency once every 1.5 years.
At the moment, there is a proposal before the House of Representatives to include compliance with this GBL in the law.
The Personal Injury Guidelines are a tool for determining the damages in a personal injury case. The aim is to achieve a fast and transparent settlement of these claims.
The guidelines are binding on all parties that subscribe to the GBL, unless it is plausible that a situation does not lend itself to application. The Personal Injury Council is responsible for safeguarding and enforcement.
In complex and lengthy cases, clear communication with the victim is of great importance. Company Regulation 15: Information in the event of personal injury therefore includes provisions on, among other things, respectful treatment and informing the victim. The regulation also states what the insurer must do if the claim cannot be settled within two years.
Sometimes the handling of a personal injury case does not go well and a complaint arises. The grievance procedure for personal injury cases can be complex. The Roadmap for the Handling of Complaints in Personal Injury Cases helps victims and shows the possible route to the Financial Complaints Institute (Kifid) and the Financial Services Disciplinary Board (Assurantiën) of personal injury victims. A personal injury victim can also go to civil court, but this roadmap does not go into that further.
More information about the complaint options can be found here.
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Victim Support Netherlands (SHN) is the point of contact for victims and the agency that speaks to them and helps them further. They help when the victim wants to and in a way that suits the victim. Among other things, they can turn to SHN for emotional support and support in trying to recover damages. This support is free of charge. SHN can be reached by phone on 0900-0101, but also via e-mail and chat.
The Personal Injury Council works with the professional parties involved to improve the claims settlement process in the event of personal injury. Together, they strive for more harmony, openness and respect. All this in the interest of people with personal injury.