MOJ RTA Claims Portal Update
Its been a while since I last mused on the subject of the MOJ portal.
For the uninitiated this is the new IT claims database that records all new and active RTA personal injury claims valued at £10k and under. Solicitors must intimate all new claims to insurers via the portal and all activity (on cases where liability is not an issue) must be dealt with via the portal based automated system.
We are now more than 6 months in and I have to say that at long last the system is working pretty well. The IT is still abysmal with the worst looking control panel you have ever seen. However once you get over the glitchy-ness and once you get to know who the bad boys are in the insurer world (those muppets who simply have no idea how to deal with this new system and slow track everything to bounce the claims out of MOJ track) the system really does work.
Why..? Well here are some interesting observations:
1. Claims are settling much much quicker
2. Insurers are less inclined to argue the toss over dross (apart from the aforementioned bad boys)
3. Insurers are mostly keeping to the payment arrangements and forking out the £400 within days of admitting liability
4. Most solicitor firms - having gotten over the de-skilling issue - now tend to believe that the system can save them as well as earn them money.
5. Most clients are happy that the above plus points deliver quicker cleaner results and ultimately they get the redress they need in a timely fashion
Still early days but LegalSpy really is a convert. The days of making big bucks in the RTA word are long gone - but the industry is still very much alive. We just work less at the bottom end of the market and more at the top end. Getting the balance right is where your business fail or prosper.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Sweet September - Oh how I love thee...!
September really is a fantastic month for personal injury business.
The season starts tomorrow with all the kids back to school, holidays a distant memory and people focusing on the important things in life ie: compensation and redress.
Aside form the immediacy of the claims that arise from road accidents where generally you find people signing up with lawyers pretty quickly, many other areas of the personal injury market can be subject to seasonal trends.
If for example you are looking to make a claim for a work related injury, the case is of course made against the employer so if you are going to ruffle feathers you might want to get your holiday out of the way first. If you have a medical negligence case, you may prefer to get your timing right and get the kids to school before launching into what could be a very strenuous and emotive exercise.
In many other scenarios people tend to park their problems during the summer months.
Divorce is a classic cyclical area of law that suddenly bursts into life post Christmas and post summer holiday season.
Now I know I shouldnt rub my hands with glee at the misery people endure prior to asking for help, thats really not it. We are ostensibly in the misery business - accept this and dont pretend otherwise.
The fact is that most law firms that are not on the Trade Union or insurer gravy trains have good periods and bad periods during the year. We are about to enter a good spell and I for one am ready to make hay.
September really is a fantastic month for personal injury business.
The season starts tomorrow with all the kids back to school, holidays a distant memory and people focusing on the important things in life ie: compensation and redress.
Aside form the immediacy of the claims that arise from road accidents where generally you find people signing up with lawyers pretty quickly, many other areas of the personal injury market can be subject to seasonal trends.
If for example you are looking to make a claim for a work related injury, the case is of course made against the employer so if you are going to ruffle feathers you might want to get your holiday out of the way first. If you have a medical negligence case, you may prefer to get your timing right and get the kids to school before launching into what could be a very strenuous and emotive exercise.
In many other scenarios people tend to park their problems during the summer months.
Divorce is a classic cyclical area of law that suddenly bursts into life post Christmas and post summer holiday season.
Now I know I shouldnt rub my hands with glee at the misery people endure prior to asking for help, thats really not it. We are ostensibly in the misery business - accept this and dont pretend otherwise.
The fact is that most law firms that are not on the Trade Union or insurer gravy trains have good periods and bad periods during the year. We are about to enter a good spell and I for one am ready to make hay.
Friday, June 25, 2010
MOJ Portal Misery
This is getting silly now
This week we have unearthed the following gremlins and black holes within the MOJ Portal:
There is NO mechanism within the portal process to deal with Pre Medical offers - no one thought to tell the MOJ planning team about the insurers tactic of making daft offers early on to settle claims quickly and cheaply. Such offers are outside of the overriding objective of the portal process yet the tactic is widely adopted by insurers. If your client accepts a pre-med offer the system doesnt allow you to settle formally (save sending a memo or notification). This settlement method may account for 10% of cases as insurers throw money at clients early and also offer to pay stage 1 & 2 costs to boot.
Did no one think of this..?
The 2nd major headache this week has been the constantly populating "unlocked" worklist which means that our team of registered users all receive the same items of post (notifications) through the portal. You cannot lock a case completely to a user - the system unlocks it once the other side are active and communicate with you. The MOJ team didnt think we would need complete file ownership. This makes no sense whatsoever. Its like your post room staff walking into your office and distributing the same letters to everyone at the same time leaving them to work out which item belongs to them.
Finally this weeks trauma was increased markedly by a portal helpdesk team consisting entirely of overly emotional teenage dimwits. I say emotional because generally they are by the time weve finished with them. Dont bother emailing the helpdesk - you will not get a reply. Instead if you have an MOJ Portal problem you must ring them and ask to speak to a senior member of staff. It really is the only way to get any sense out of these people.
In summary, 2 months in - its as bad as bad can be.
This is getting silly now
This week we have unearthed the following gremlins and black holes within the MOJ Portal:
There is NO mechanism within the portal process to deal with Pre Medical offers - no one thought to tell the MOJ planning team about the insurers tactic of making daft offers early on to settle claims quickly and cheaply. Such offers are outside of the overriding objective of the portal process yet the tactic is widely adopted by insurers. If your client accepts a pre-med offer the system doesnt allow you to settle formally (save sending a memo or notification). This settlement method may account for 10% of cases as insurers throw money at clients early and also offer to pay stage 1 & 2 costs to boot.
Did no one think of this..?
The 2nd major headache this week has been the constantly populating "unlocked" worklist which means that our team of registered users all receive the same items of post (notifications) through the portal. You cannot lock a case completely to a user - the system unlocks it once the other side are active and communicate with you. The MOJ team didnt think we would need complete file ownership. This makes no sense whatsoever. Its like your post room staff walking into your office and distributing the same letters to everyone at the same time leaving them to work out which item belongs to them.
Finally this weeks trauma was increased markedly by a portal helpdesk team consisting entirely of overly emotional teenage dimwits. I say emotional because generally they are by the time weve finished with them. Dont bother emailing the helpdesk - you will not get a reply. Instead if you have an MOJ Portal problem you must ring them and ask to speak to a senior member of staff. It really is the only way to get any sense out of these people.
In summary, 2 months in - its as bad as bad can be.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rapid Claims MOJ Portal Update
Allow me to continue venting my spleen regarding the shambles that is the MOJ RTA claims portal.
Now that we are finally using the damn thing we have identified the following (additional) flaws:
- The system looks like a 1980's intranet for a crap university
- There are no filters whatsoever on the data columns
- No clickable / sortable fields
- No reporting mechanisms (in other words to extract data for management information)
- Bizarre referencing with half the screen taken up with meaningless process id numbers
- No user instruction manuals (we really dont have these)
- The insurers when you speak to the claims handlers, have very little idea of what they are doing
- Insurer backlogs are increasing as a result
As if all this wasnt enough, word has it that certain insurers are going hell for eather trying to settle claims inside the first window minimising costs to £400 + vat.
More misery updates to follow no doubt
Allow me to continue venting my spleen regarding the shambles that is the MOJ RTA claims portal.
Now that we are finally using the damn thing we have identified the following (additional) flaws:
- The system looks like a 1980's intranet for a crap university
- There are no filters whatsoever on the data columns
- No clickable / sortable fields
- No reporting mechanisms (in other words to extract data for management information)
- Bizarre referencing with half the screen taken up with meaningless process id numbers
- No user instruction manuals (we really dont have these)
- The insurers when you speak to the claims handlers, have very little idea of what they are doing
- Insurer backlogs are increasing as a result
As if all this wasnt enough, word has it that certain insurers are going hell for eather trying to settle claims inside the first window minimising costs to £400 + vat.
More misery updates to follow no doubt
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Polish migrants in the UK
We have an interest in Polish legal matters and it would seem there is a complete lack of information for Poles who come to live and work in the UK.
I have come across a new blog which highlights the issues facing Polish migrants in the uk and also this Polish information blog it is good to see the advice gap being filled for the (unofficial total) 750,000 ex pats working in this country.
You have to work in the industry with Polish nationals to realise just how badly treated they are in this country. Whilst you can understand some of the obvious problems that would arise when being domiciled in a foreign land, in the majority of cases we find that clients are abused at work by unscrupulous bosses and then at home by dodgy landlords.
Thats 21st century Britain for you. Aint it just great...!
We have an interest in Polish legal matters and it would seem there is a complete lack of information for Poles who come to live and work in the UK.
I have come across a new blog which highlights the issues facing Polish migrants in the uk and also this Polish information blog it is good to see the advice gap being filled for the (unofficial total) 750,000 ex pats working in this country.
You have to work in the industry with Polish nationals to realise just how badly treated they are in this country. Whilst you can understand some of the obvious problems that would arise when being domiciled in a foreign land, in the majority of cases we find that clients are abused at work by unscrupulous bosses and then at home by dodgy landlords.
Thats 21st century Britain for you. Aint it just great...!
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