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Redundancy may spark personal injury claims

History may be about to repeat itself after personal injury claims rose dramatically during the last economic downturn.

With steel company Corus cutting as many as 2,400 jobs in the UK, the latest in a line of casualties of the recession. Other large companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Fujitsu, Aston Martin and JCB have all cut jobs as they were hit by the downturn in the economy.

A situation not dissimilar to the midlands textile industry which witnessed the closure of several garment factories in the late 1990s leading to thousands of workers being made redundant.

Workers were then targeted with advertisements in local and national papers offering a free hearing test and listing occupations and companies for whom it was said compensation could be obtained. Thousands of claims were being brought against three main employers and their insurers.

Last year the government overhauled he rules governing personal injury claims with far stricter guidelines aimed at speeding up settlements, cutting costs and giving customers better access to justice. It saw the claims process streamlined compared to the previous arrangements which could see insurers spending months and years reaching a decision.

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