Civil Liability Bill — New Clause 1 — Cap on Whiplash Claims via Small Claims Route — 23 Oct 2018 at 14:45

The majority of MPs voted not to keep the cap on the value of whiplash claims which can be considered via the small claims route at £1,000; with increases restricted with reference to inflation.

MPs were considering the Civil Liability Bill[1].

The proposed new clause rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was titled: Restriction on increase in small claims limit for relevant personal injuries and began:

  • (1) In this section, the “PI small claims limit” refers to the maximum value of a claim for damages for personal injuries for which, in accordance with Civil Procedure Rules, the small claims track is the normal track.
  • (2) Civil Procedure Rules may not increase the PI small claims limit in respect of relevant injury claims to an amount above £1,000 for the first time unless—
  • (a) the Lord Chancellor is satisfied, and has certified in writing, that on the day the rules are to come into force, the value of £1,000 on 1 April 1999 adjusted for inflation, computed by reference to CPI, would be at least £1,500, and
  • (b) the rules increase the PI small claims limit to no more than £1,500.
  • (3) Civil Procedure Rules may not increase the PI small claims limit in respect of relevant injury claims on any subsequent occasion unless—
  • (a) the Lord Chancellor is satisfied, and has certified in writing, that on the day the rules are to come into force, the value of £1,000 on 1 April 1999 adjusted for inflation, computed by reference to CPI, would be at least £500 greater than on the day on which the rules effecting the previous increase were made, and
  • (b) the rules increase the PI small claims limit by no more than £500.

The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement:

  • This new clause would limit increases in the whiplash small claims limit to inflation (CPI), and allow the limit to increase only when inflation had increased the existing rate by £500 since it was last set.

The small claims route can be more accessible, and lower risk, for claimants than alternative tracks. [2]

Debate in Parliament |

Public Whip is run as a free not-for-profit service. If you'd like to support us, please consider switching your (UK) electricity and/or gas to Octopus Energy or tip us via Ko-Fi.

Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con284 (+2 tell) 0090.5%
DUP0 0110.0%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent2 4085.7%
Lab0 222 (+2 tell)087.2%
LDem0 8066.7%
PC0 40100.0%
Total:286 239187.3%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
no rebellions

About the Project

The Public Whip is a not-for-profit, open source website created in 2003 by Francis Irving and Julian Todd and now run by Bairwell Ltd.

The Whip on the Web

Help keep PublicWhip alive