There are now four portals a personal injury claim might belong in, and picking the wrong one is expensive. Under CPR 45.24 an unreasonable failure to start in the right portal limits the claimant to the fixed costs that would have been recoverable there, and in the small claims track that means nothing beyond court fees. The decision has to be right first time.
Nicky Carter takes each protocol in turn and sets out what it captures, what it excludes, and what happens when a claim leaves it. The small claims track protocol, with its 5,000 pound injury limit and 10,000 pound overall limit and the unusual position that claims can return to it. The MOJ RTA low value protocol, where once you leave you never come back. And the EL and PL protocol, with its own exclusions and its own slightly higher fixed costs.
Running through all of it are the cross cutting issues: the whiplash tariff and the 2025 uplift, the definition of a soft tissue injury claim and how it differs between protocols, children and protected parties, vulnerable road users and why motorcyclists sit outside the tariff altogether, limitation and Practice Direction 27B, Article 75 insurers and response times, seatbelt contributory negligence, and the county court decisions on claims that appear to fall between protocols entirely.
Key Takeaways
- How the small claims track protocol works, including the 5,000 pound and 10,000 pound limits, why non-protocol vehicle costs and credit hire are excluded from the valuation, and the reasonable belief test the court will apply to your figure
- Why children and protected parties and vulnerable road users are treated as two separate blocks, with motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders and mobility scooter users exempt from both the portal and the whiplash tariff
- What makes the small claims track protocol cease to apply, who gets to press which button, and where the claim goes next
- The RTA low value protocol exclusions that matter in practice, including why a claim against a highway authority fits in no portal at all, following Prescott and Bateman
- Insurer response times, when an Article 75 insurer buys an extra 15 business days, and why it is worth asking what the query actually is
- How to protect limitation using Practice Direction 27B, and why Froome v Butcher still sets the seatbelt reduction 50 years on
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