ATE insurance – Prosperity’s sector update for 2024
At Prosperity, we provide After the Event (ATE) insurance policies across a variety of areas, helping legal firms to better support their clients and give them access to justice by mitigating the risk associated with litigation.
As is ever the case, this year has seen a number of changes introduced or mentioned, that affect some of the insurance areas we operate in. Here is a round-up, as detailed by the expert team here at Prosperity Insurance.
Personal Injury
It was recently announced that the Personal Injury Discount Rate (PIDR) is set to change – and not in the favour of claimants. The PIDR is reviewed every five years, the most recent review taking place in July this year. The reviewed rate will change from -0.25%, to +0.5%, effective from 11th January 2025. This will bring the rate, precisely in line with the associated rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In a nutshell, this means that claims for future losses (which use the PIDR to calculate the rate of return on investments) will be less in favour of the claimant. It will reduce the value of claims for future losses, presented on a lump sum basis.
Clinical negligence
All year, solicitors and insurance companies dealing with clinical negligence claims have waited with baited breath for confirmation of progress in the introduction of fixed recoverable costs. If implemented, the measure would see fixed recoverable costs introduced on all claims of up to £25,000, as well as introducing a new streamlined process for claims. This, in turn, would affect firms and solicitors seeking to help clients access justice.
Whilst earlier this year, it was suggested we could see them introduced in April 2025, the General Election halted proceedings and it now looks as though the new Labour Government haven’t advanced the plans.
The topic was not discussed at the Civil Procedure Rule Committee meeting on 4th October, which suggests it’s now not a priority for next year.
Housing Disrepair
Housing disrepair cases, broadly, continue to rise in number year on year – against a variety of public sector landlords. In turn we’re continuing to work with more and more firms on such cases, especially due to the competitive quality of our policies, thanks to Prosperity’s three-staged premium. Firms are highly commending our policies in this area not only for their competitiveness, but for the accessibility and service that coincides with choosing Prosperity.
Vehicle Diesel Emissions
The ‘Dieselgate’ scandal as it’s become known, broke in 2015 – and almost 10 years later we’re still seeing affected consumers join group litigation orders. 2024 saw more proceedings for such cases enter the court, and as a result set precedence for more claims.
Our experience in providing ATE insurance for such cases is vast, with our firm providing the insurance for a large number of cases against Volkswagen that settled in 2022, amongst many others.
Wider business update
2024 has been a year of growth for Prosperity Insurance- bringing on new firms as partners, honing our overarching service, and perfecting our products using direct feedback from legal firms to inform our development.
Not only have we developed our policy portal to be able to provide quotes in seconds and policies in minutes, we’ve also worked to develop its integration with leading case management systems, once again using partner feedback to deliver a service that’s tailored to the needs of busy solicitors.
As well as the areas listed above, we have ATE policies for cases involving road traffic accidents, public liability claims, employers’ liability claims, occupiers’ liability claims, housing disrepair, bespoke facilities, commercial litigation and insolvency and bankruptcy.
If you’d like to discuss your firm’s needs in regard to ATE insurance, we’d be delighted to chat. Call us on 0800 524 4235, or you can email us at info@prosperityinsurance.co.uk.
