APIL’s short film for the flagship Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign has been shortlisted for another industry accolade.

Victoria's Story is a finalist in the ‘best blog, podcast, or video’ category of the Association Excellence Awards. The awards recognise the essential work that associations, trade bodies, unions, and professional organisations conduct on behalf of their members.

APIL executive committee member Victoria Lebrec shared how the law helped her get her life back on track after a life-changing injury in the short film which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media since it launched late last year.

APIL is up against competition from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the National Trust for Scotland, Nautilus International, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The winner will be announced in November. APIL is also a finalist in the Memcom Excellence Awards.

Members are encouraged to support the Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign by sharing Victoria’s Story and the Rebuilding Shattered Lives website online. Victoria’s Story can be shared on social media or embedded to a website from the Vimeo platform here . Contact [email protected] with any queries.   

APIL will respond to a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) consultation on revisions to the medical reporting process for road traffic claims.

The consultation asks for views on plans to revise the qualifying criteria for medical reporting organisations (MROs) and experts who accept direct instructions (DMEs) in light of the consequences of the whiplash reform programme implemented in 2021.

Changes to the number and type of MROs and DMEs “offered” to represented and unrepresented claimants when they search for a provider are also proposed.

The consultation also seeks views in relation to the content of medical reports, citing that reports often do not contain comment on the defendant’s version of events. The MoJ states that claimant representatives are issuing instructions to medical report providers before a liability decision has been received from the at-fault compensator, and that this can lead to delays in the settlement of claims.

The MoJ proposes to align the processes for obtaining medical reports, so that all claimants (both represented and unrepresented) obtain medical reports through a link embedded in the Official Injury Claim system, after a decision on liability has been made.

Members who would like to share their views should contact Ana Ramos, legal policy assistant at [email protected]. Alternatively, members can have their say on the APIL website here.

APIL will highlight the need to amend the scope of, and to extend the time limit for applications to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS), in response to the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) latest consultation on the scheme.

The MoJ is seeking views as to whether to adopt the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommendation to extend the time limit for CICS claims relating to child abuse to seven years. Other options proposed are extending the time limit for all cases to either three or seven years, or extending the time limit for all cases involving children to three years.

The Government is also consulting on amendments to the eligibility requirements for a claim under the CICS to include online facilitated sexual abuse, and serious non-contact crimes such as revenge porn and coercive control.

Members with views should contact Alice Taylor, legal policy manager, at [email protected]. Members can also share their views on the APIL website here.

APIL has highlighted the need for the law to keep up with rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure people injured by failures in the technology can be compensated.

“AI technology is racing ahead and the law needs to catch up quickly,” said APIL secretary Brett Dixon in a press release issued this week.

“Urgent change is needed. There are cars already on UK roads where software can control the steering and speed. The focus on making the UK the leader for businesses developing and using AI should not be at the expense of ordinary people who fall victim to any failures,”

Members can read the full press release here.

The press release follows APIL’s response to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology consultation on AI. Read the response here.

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