• 03 Mar 2020
• •
• 2 min read

Civil Liability Act 2018 – Update

On 27 February 2020, the Justice Secretary announced that the reforms outlined within the Civil Liability Act 2018 would be postponed from their proposed implementation date of 6 April 2020.

In my article Whiplash Claim Reforms – are you ready? of November 2019 I outlined the key aspects of these proposed reforms. In 2019, following the passing of the Act, the government set themselves the deadline of 6 April 2020 for implementation. It had been consistently stated that the deadline would be hit and that the new portal would be in place for Claimants to use. However, it has now been announced that the reforms will be delayed until 1 August 2020.

The statement says: ‘We have always been clear that we need to do this right rather than hastily’ and that ‘…we need to provide sufficient time to work with the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to put in place the supporting rules and pre-action protocol and to give industry sufficient time to prepare their businesses for the changes…’.

The lack of any groundwork in terms of rules and legislation is largely due to inaction on the part of the Ministry of Justice with no legislation being proposed, no indication as to what the tariffs will be and no drafts for rules or pre-action protocols.

This delay no doubt does bring some relief to Claimants and firms who were left with little or no guidance on how the process would function, with only just over a month before the proposed implementation date. However, it does remain to be seen whether the new portal and accompanying rules will be in place by the postponed implementation date.

If you have any questions regarding the Civil Liability Act 2018, contact the experienced insurance solicitors at Trethowans on 0800 2800 421. We have offices across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire and are happy to answer your enquiries.