Offaly's personal injury award claim details revealed in annual review

The Injuries Board has released details of personal injury awards paid out last year.

According to the group that assesses personal injury claims and makes awards relating to motor, employer and public liability accidents without the need for litigation 158 awards for compensation - totalling €3.1m - were paid out in Offaly in 2013, with the average award amount coming in at €20,003.

Nationwide the Injuries Board made 10,656 personal injury awards averaging €22,847 each during the year, which marked an increase of just over five per cent in the number of claims compared to 2012.

According to the Board’s annual review the total value of those awards was €243.5m, an increase of just under twelve per cent on the €218m awarded in 2012.

As the number of accidents remains unchanged, the increase is being attributed to a higher proportion of claims being processed through the Board’s lower cost, non-adversarial process and also the delivery of a number of exceptionally high value awards.

Last year over 100 claims attracted awards of over €100,000, compared to just 72 such awards in 2012. During 2013 the Injuries Board also made its highest ever compensation award of €1.39m.

Three-quarters of the awards dealt with by the Injuries Board were for injuries from road traffic accidents, while the remainder were split between workplace and public place accidents.

Limerick had the largest number of awards as a proportion of population, while Kilkenny had the lowest.

CEO of the Injuries Board Patricia Byron said she doesn’t expected an increase in accident numbers this year, but does expect to see a continuation of the trend whereby an increasing proportion of claims are processed by the Board.

She said this should mitigate against any hikes in insurance premiums.