If you’re planning to make a personal injury claim, the rules have changed significantly in recent years — and not in claimants’ favour. The small claims track limit for road traffic accident (RTA) injuries now stands at £5,000, and whiplash compensation tariffs rose by roughly 15% from 31 May 2025. Together, these reforms affect how much you can recover, whether you can claim back your legal costs, and how much support you’ll have along the way.
This guide explains what’s actually changed, who it affects, and why getting advice before you start a claim matters more than ever under the new rules.
What is the small claims track, and why does it matter?
Every personal injury claim in England and Wales is allocated to a “track” depending on its value: small claims, fast track, or multi-track. The track decides how your claim is handled — and, crucially, whether you can recover your legal fees from the other side if you win.
Since 31 May 2021, the small claims limit for road traffic accident injuries has been £5,000 — up from £1,000. For other types of personal injury (workplace accidents, public liability claims such as slips and trips, and similar), the limit rose from £1,000 to £1,500 on 6 April 2022. The Official Injury Claim portal, run by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, sets out the detailed track thresholds under Part 26 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
In practice, this means: if your injury is valued below these thresholds, your claim is treated as “low value.” You can still pursue compensation, but you generally cannot recover your solicitor’s fees from the defendant’s insurer, even if your claim succeeds. That’s a major shift from the position pre-2021, when far more claims qualified for the fast track and legal costs were routinely recoverable.
How the whiplash tariff changes affect your payout
Since the Whiplash Reform Programme took effect, compensation for whiplash injuries lasting up to two years has been set by a fixed tariff under the Civil Liability Act 2018, rather than negotiated case by case. The Whiplash Injury (Amendment) Regulations increased these tariff amounts by approximately 15% from 31 May 2025 — the first uplift since the tariff was introduced, as confirmed by the Law Society’s tracker of personal injury reforms.
Even with the increase, tariff-based whiplash awards remain substantially lower than pre-reform compensation for equivalent injuries. Most RTA whiplash claims within the tariff and small claims limits are handled through the Official Injury Claim portal, a free online service run by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau — and the court fee for using it has also risen, from £275 to £303.
The Law Society notes that the government committed in April 2025 to a post-implementation review of the whole Whiplash Reform Programme, with a call for evidence issued later that year. Further changes to how these claims are handled may follow, so it’s worth checking the current position before you rely on any figures you’ve seen online, including in this article.
Does this mean you shouldn't bother claiming?
No — but it does change what to expect and how to approach the process.
- If your claim is likely to be worth more than £5,000 (for an RTA) or £1,500 (for other injuries), it won’t fall into the small claims track, and you may still be able to recover your legal costs as part of a successful claim.
- If your claim is likely to fall below those thresholds, you can still claim compensation — but you’ll need to weigh up whether to handle the OIC portal process yourself or instruct a solicitor on a different funding basis, since costs generally won’t be recovered from the other side either way.
- Claims over £100,000, or with complicating factors such as multiple defendants, disputed liability, or long-term/life-changing injuries, are allocated to the multi-track, where costs work differently again and expert legal input matters most.
The three-year limitation period under Section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980 still applies regardless of track — you generally have three years from the date of the accident, or from your “date of knowledge” if the injury wasn’t immediately obvious, to formally start a claim. Citizens Advice sets out the general claims process if you’d like a plain-English overview alongside this guide.
Common mistakes to avoid under the new rules
Assuming a “small” claim means a simple one. The OIC portal was designed to be usable without a solicitor, but insurers still contest liability, causation, and injury duration. Missing evidence — CCTV that’s since been overwritten, witness details never taken, medical reports filed too late — can reduce or sink an otherwise valid claim, and you won’t get legal costs back to fix the problem later.
Underestimating your claim’s true value. Whiplash tariffs only cover the whiplash element of an injury. If you have other injuries alongside whiplash (a “mixed injury” claim) — for example, on top of a road traffic accident you also suffered an injury at work as a driver — or your symptoms genuinely extend beyond two years, your claim may be worth significantly more than the portal’s tariff calculator suggests, and may not belong in the small claims track at all.
Accepting an early settlement offer before you know the full extent of your injury. Settling too soon, before treatment is complete or a prognosis is confirmed, is one of the most common ways claimants lose out — reforms or no reforms.
How a solicitor can help, even under the small claims track
Because legal costs generally aren’t recoverable for claims within the small claims limits, some people assume instructing a solicitor no longer makes sense for lower-value claims. In reality, getting early advice is what helps you work out which track your claim actually belongs in — and whether it’s been undervalued.
At Adam Bernard Solicitors, our personal injury team can assess your claim on a no win, no fee basis, advise honestly on where it’s likely to be valued, and handle the process — from the Official Injury Claim portal through to full multi-track litigation — so you’re not navigating fixed tariffs, mixed-injury rules, and portal deadlines alone.
