The government has fallen into a trap set by the insurance industry in a phoney war over a compensation culture that does not exist, leading personal injury law firm Thompsons says in response to the publication today of the Compensation Bill.

At a time when claims are falling, and the Better Regulation Task Force confirms that there is no compensation culture, the government has produced a Bill which panders to the scare stories.

In doing so it not only regulates claims farmers, which is a good thing, but sweeps legitimate and non-profit making organisations before it.

Personal Injury Claims are dropping

Tom Jones, director of policy and public affairs at Thompsons says: "There is no compensation culture. Personal injury claims are dropping significantly. Judges haven’t changed, the law hasn’t changed. If people sue and their claim is not legitimate, it will not succeed.

"What we are seeing is a fear whipped up by insurers and the government dancing to their tune. If the insurers stood up to spurious claims, instead of getting rid of the investigation officers and dumbing down their operation, they would not need to go bleating the government about compensation culture.

"All ministers needed to do to curb the excesses of the claims management industry was to introduce simple regulation which would do just that. Instead we have a Bill which confuses the law on negligence, introduces a vague notion of a desirable activity, and may impact on the ability of organisations such as trade unions to provide high quality legal services."