Road Traffic Accident Claims Guide UK 2026 — OIC Portal, Whiplash & Your Rights
If you are injured in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, you have the right to claim compensation. Since May 2021, low-value whiplash and soft tissue injury claims (under £5,000) must be made through the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal — a government system that enables claims without a solicitor. This guide explains both routes and what to do immediately after an accident.
OIC portal (whiplash/soft tissue under £5,000): officialinjuryclaim.org.uk. Medical report via MedCo: mandatory for all OIC claims. Time limit: 3 years from accident date. MIB (Motor Insurers’ Bureau) handles uninsured and untraced driver claims. Fatal accidents: dependants may claim under Fatal Accidents Act 1976.
The OIC Portal — Step by Step
- Register and submit claim at officialinjuryclaim.org.uk. Enter accident details, describe injuries, and identify the at-fault insurer.
- Insurer acknowledges liability or disputes it within 30 business days. If liability is denied, you may need a solicitor.
- Medical report — you must obtain a medical report from an accredited MedCo provider (£200–£400 fixed fee, usually funded by the insurer). The report confirms injury type and prognosis.
- Valuation and negotiation — once you have the medical report, you can see the tariff value and negotiate with the insurer. You can submit a counter-offer if their initial offer is too low.
- Settlement or court — most cases settle. If not, the matter transfers to the Small Claims Court (no legal costs payable by the losing party, so legal fees cannot be recovered).
Whiplash Tariff Amounts 2026
| Injury duration | Tariff (whiplash only) |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 months | £240 |
| 3–6 months | £495 |
| 6–9 months | £840 |
| 9–12 months | £1,320 |
| 12–15 months | £1,840 |
| 15–18 months | £2,265 |
| 18–24 months | £3,005 |
| Over 24 months | Exit OIC — JC Guidelines apply |
Uninsured and Untraced Drivers — MIB Claims
If the driver who caused your accident was uninsured, or the accident was a hit-and-run with an untraced driver, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) provides a safety net. Uninsured driver claims go through the MIB Uninsured Drivers Agreement; untraced driver claims go through the Untraced Drivers Agreement. Strict time limits apply (report to police within 5 days for untraced drivers; commence MIB proceedings within 3 years). Seek specialist advice for MIB claims.
What to Do Immediately After a Road Traffic Accident
What you do in the minutes and days after a road traffic accident can significantly affect the strength of any later claim. If it's safe to do so, exchange details with the other driver (name, address, registration, insurer), and take photographs of the vehicles, the road layout, any visible damage, and the wider scene, including road signs, weather conditions, and skid marks if present. Get contact details from any independent witnesses, since their account can become important if liability is disputed later — witnesses are often willing to help at the scene but far harder to trace afterwards. Report the accident to the police where required (certain accidents, including any involving injury, must legally be reported), and seek medical attention promptly even if your injuries initially seem minor, since some injuries, particularly whiplash and soft-tissue damage, don't fully present until a day or two afterwards, and a documented early medical assessment strengthens the causal link between the accident and your injury.
Rehabilitation — The Rehabilitation Code
Under the Rehabilitation Code, insurers are expected to consider your rehabilitation needs early in the claims process, separately from and often well before the question of compensation is finally resolved. This can mean funding physiotherapy, psychological support, or other treatment aimed at getting you back to health and, where relevant, back to work as quickly as possible, rather than making you wait until the claim settles to access support you need now. Engaging with early rehabilitation isn't an admission that reduces your compensation — in fact, a documented rehabilitation plan and your progress through it often provides valuable evidence of the genuine impact of your injuries when the final claim value is being assessed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, but your damages will typically be reduced for contributory negligence. The standard reduction for not wearing a seatbelt is 25% if a seatbelt would have prevented the injury entirely, or 15% if it would have reduced the injury severity. Courts assess this carefully and the percentage reduction depends on the extent to which the seatbelt would have changed the outcome.
An admission at the scene is not legally binding on the insurer. However, it is very useful evidence. Preserve any messages, dashcam footage, witness accounts of what was said, and accident scene photographs. If the insurer denies liability, you will need to prove fault through evidence. This is where a solicitor becomes more valuable — they can investigate and negotiate with the insurer. If the insurer continues to dispute, the claim may need to go to court.
If the other driver was at fault, you can pursue your claim directly against their insurer (a "third-party claim") rather than going through your own insurer, which avoids affecting your own no-claims discount and excess. This is usually the preferred route for a non-fault claim, though your own insurer may still offer to handle the claim on your behalf for convenience — it's worth checking whether doing so affects your policy in any way before agreeing, since some insurers record a claim on your history even where fault clearly lies with the other driver.
Yes — if your car is off the road for repairs following a non-fault accident, you can generally claim for a replacement vehicle (either a like-for-like hire car or a reasonable courtesy car) for the period it's genuinely needed, and if you didn't hire a replacement, you may still be able to claim a reasonable sum for loss of use of your vehicle during that period. Keep records of exactly how long your car was unavailable and any related costs, since this is assessed on the actual, reasonable period of loss rather than an open-ended estimate.