What is PIAB ?

The Government in 2004 established a statutory claims assessment body known as the Personal Injuries Assessment board ( PIAB).

The function of PIAB is to assess claims for personal injury arising from road traffic accidents, workplace accidents or accidents in a public place.

The application to PIAB is made against the party alleged to have legal responsibility for having caused the personal injury. This can be the name of a vehicle driver or owner in the case of a road traffic accident claim, or the name of your employer in the case of a workplace accident claim. The application must be made within certain timeframes and requires the completion of an application form, submission of a medical report from a treating medical expert and payment of an application fee.

Injured claimants are encouraged by PIAB and others to pursue their claims on their own through the PIAB claims assessment process.

We at Downes solicitors believe injured claimants should have the benefit of legal advice and representation when pursuing a claim before and during an application to PIAB. We say this because where some claims can and will be resolved during or as a result of the PIAB assessment process, some will not. Each claim will be different and will involve its own intricate issues. Where the claim cannot be resolved at the PIAB stage the injured claimant may need to issue legal proceedings to resolve the claim. Therefore it is important that information submitted to PIAB is accurate and does not prejudice a claimants ability to pursue legal proceedings, if that is necessary.

The PIAB assessment of the claim can be accepted or rejected by either party but if both accept it then the Insurer for the Respondent must pay the assessed sum to the claimant.

If either party rejects the PIAB assessment then PIAB issues an authorisation document to the claimant and this allows the claimant to issue legal proceedings to resolve the claim.