The reforms came into effect on 1 April 2013 and follow recommendations outlined in a review undertaken by a judge of the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Jackson. For many companies, the most important aspect of the new framework will be the extension of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims.

Currently, this covers Road Traffic Accident (RTA) claims up to £10,000. Now the protocol will be extended to Employers Liability (EL), Public Liability (PL) and RTA claims up to £25,000. The online system used to manage RTA claims was called the RTA Portal. Now that will be rebranded as The Claims Portal – and it will be adapted to accommodate the demands of the new regulatory environment.

Not all claims will be handled by the portal – direct claims, for instance, may be exempt. But one of the most challenging aspects for many companies will be the new claims timescales introduced by the revised system. Although details have yet to be formalised, it seems likely that the portal mechanism will be driven on a strict timeline – defendants will have to react very quickly (probably 30 working days for EL, 40 for PL).

PRIME Systems is already preparing an evolutionary upgrade of its Claims Management Software system to help companies manage this.

Said Paul Ramsell, a partner at PRIME Systems: “We already have a best in breed claims system. Now that will be extended to meet the challenges of the new environment. We intend to be the first dedicated specialist claims system integrated into the new claims portal.”

The background

1. A quick overview of the legislative process is available on the Ministry of Justice website, here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/civil-justice-reforms. Draft proposals for the new claims portal can be found at: http://www.rtapiclaimsprocess.org.uk

2. How the Claims Portal works. It will be an extension of the system which was introduced to support the RTA Personal Injury Claims process for low value personal claims agreed by Claimant and Defendant stakeholders with the MoJ. It provides a secure medium for the electronic transfer between Claimant Representatives and Defendant Insurer/Compensators of the information necessary to process claims by individuals for personal injury following a road traffic accident.

The system was designed in partnership with Claimant and Defendant stakeholders to take account of the internal working practices of both, while remaining fully compliant with the agreed reform protocols. It manages communications throughout the stages defined by the protocols, validates that the data defined as mandatory is fully completed, monitors the agreed times and provides reminders to avoid these periods being exceeded.

The system meets the security requirements specified by the MoJ for the transmission and storage of confidential information, including compliance with guidelines provided by the Information Commissioner. Access to the system is restricted to registered users only, and controlled by individual logon id/password combinations. Users can only access the claims that they “own,” either as the Claimant Representative or Defendant Insurer/Compensator.

3. At this stage, many of the practical details of the system remain unclear, but it is likely that the system will provide two methods for use: The first is via Web Browser-based access to a secure Web Server. This provides the ability for users to complete the agreed electronic forms online and submit for transfer to the recipient party. Input to the forms is fully validated by the system to the agreed requirements before transmission, requesting user correction if necessary.

The second option is to link with the Web Server via Application-to-Application (A2A) interfaces to the internal applications/systems used by Claimant Representatives or Defendant Insurer/Compensators. This uses standard XML-based messages. These messages provide the necessary information for the processing of claims, and also support the interaction of the client applications with the process, as controlled by the system. The data content of the messages will be validated as necessary, and will be rejected in the event of an error.

It may be possible to mix and match these two options, such as for a Claimant using Web Browser input to communicate with an Insurer using an A2A interface, and vice versa. It may also be possible for a user organisation to use both Web browser and A2A on individual claims, although users should be aware this may present synchronisation issues.

4. Claims Processing Timescales: Proposals outline three stages to be managed through the Portal.

• Stage 1 Providing early notification      of claims to defendants and insurers.
• Stage 2 Medical evidence, offers to      settle and negotiation.
• Stage 3 Where a settlement cannot be      agreed by the end of Stage 2, an application will be made to the court to have      the case heard.

See http://www.rtapiclaimsprocess.org.uk/pdfs/RTAPI_Reform_Process_Flow.pdf for a flowchart of the 3 stages; and a more detailed description of the detailed processes involved in each stage is available via the home page of the Claims Process site: http://www.rtapiclaimsprocess.org.uk.

A prestige West End London hotel group has hired PRIME Systems to implement a customised version of its standard Compliance Monitoring system.

This bespoke solution will build an authorisation process into the administration of the Internal Control Questionnaires. These questionnaires play a vital part in the management chain headed by the hotel group’s Finance Director.

The areas that the system covers include Accounts, Cash & Bank, Payroll, Purchasing, Inventory and Revenue.

Control Questionnaires can now be verified at several stages, from hotel controller through to hotel manager and right up to director level. It enables managers to demonstrate a good level of financial self-assessment, thus flagging up any failings and providing advance warning of required actions.

Paul Ramsell, a partner at PRIME Systems, comments: “The advantage of this system is that it gives the finance director easy and convenient access to his departments’ results.

“The detailed management reports supplied by PRIME Systems allow him to monitor and act on the scores derived from the questionnaires. This gives him better control over the completion of the questionnaires than he would have if they were paper-based.”

And Ramsell adds: “We have worked with this Finance Director in the past and we are pleased at this renewed vote of confidence in our customised systems. It’s great that we are now allied to a major hotel group.”

Prime user Conference 2013

The first PRIME User Conference, held at Wilkinsons Head Office in Worksop on March 14th was a great success and our customers who attended came away with lots of new ideas.

Paul Ramsell, Director at PRIME, gave the attendees an overview of all the new developments in PRIME over the last couple of years and showed everyone what is being planned for the future. George Master, Risk Manager at David Lloyd Leisure, gave an insightful talk about how he has implemented the PRIME Compliance Monitoring system into his 90 fitness and tennis clubs, followed by Louise Ashmore, Claims Handler at Wilkinson, who showed us how they have adapted the PRIME Claims Management module over the last few years to give the company vital information on claim costs and commitments.

Some of the feedback we received was;

“Provoked some good thoughts”; “Gave us lots of ideas of how we can further use PRIME”; “Enjoyed the day and spoke to some very knowledgeable people”; “Useful to meet other clients and see how PRIME is used elsewhere”

Everyone who attended expressed interest in coming back to future events, and we will be planning another user event in the near future.

This event, unique in the health and safety management sector, will allow PRIME Systems’ customers to meet each other and share best practice and business intelligence. There are also a limited number of tickets available for interested companies that are not yet PRIME Systems customers.

The conference agenda will include presentations by PRIME Systems partners, Jackie Gawen, Paul Ramsell and Dave Rendle; and there will be case-study papers delivered by George Master, Head of Risk at David Lloyd Leisure and Louise Ashmore, Claims Handler from Wilkinson Stores.

Paul Ramsell states: “We’re keen for the event to give our customers a better idea of the systems we provide for other clients – and to keep everyone abreast of the sorts of future developments that are in the pipeline. All of this should be of massive interest to their companies.

“I also want people to have the opportunity to meet other customers and exchange stories and experiences. I hope this will give everyone new ideas of how to make the most of our system and how it can be tailored to suit their specific requirements.”

The programme will conclude at 3pm with an optional tour of the Wilkinson operation, offering insights on how the company manages to supply goods to hundreds of stores.

More information and tickets from: info@prime-systems.net

PRIME’s modules, including ACCIDENT & INCIDENT REPORTING, COMPLIANCE MONITORING, RISK ASSESSMENT, CLAIMS & CRISIS MANAGEMENT, CUSTOMER FEEDBACK and POLICIES & PROCEDURES, all enjoyed a lot of interest from a wide range of delegates from diverse industry sectors.

A main talking point in the current financial climate was cost. We were able to demonstrate significant savings by existing PRIME users, with PRIME paying for itself many times over.

If you are interested in learning more about PRIME SYSTEMS then please complete the contact us form and Roger, our Business Development Manager, will be pleased to call you.

Andy has worked in IT for over 20 years now, and has a strong practical bias, with in-depth experience in  customer-facing roles, particularly in marketing, operations and e-commerce. His skills in Lotus Notes, web design and development will be of great value to PRIME in developing future systems which will follow our ethos of providing solutions to our customers which are easy on the eye as well as being easy to use.

Andy has an active and sporty life outside work, including tennis and golf. But a lifelong interest in shooting and firearms has led him to a significant involvement in the Air Cadets, which offers youngsters the opportunity to experience service life, linked to flying and the RAF.  He is currently in the process of progressing to being a Range Officer in the organisation, and, with three teenage children of his own, he has a passion for developing young people in the more worthwhile aspects of life, sharing challenges and adventure in an exciting environment.

Andy is looking forward to meeting our customers, and would be happy to tell you more about the Air Cadets, as well as your Prime modules!

Paul Ramsell, Director of Prime Systems, led the team demonstrating the full range of PRIME modules.  The stand was extremely busy, with many visitors being interested in seeing how the flexibility and ease of use of PRIME solutions would help the Health & Safety Management of their own organisations. 

If you were unable to attend, and would still like to hear about PRIME, and see an online, or face to face, demonstration, then contact us to make the arrangements.  It’s easy!!

CONTACT US

The key factor which made them make the move to PRIME is the flexibility and cost-effectiveness that PRIME offers, enabling them to match the system exactly to their needs. They particularly liked the fact that ongoing changes and enhancements will be made quickly and often, as part of the standard support package.

This ease of use and flexibility was demonstrated when the system went live less than FOUR WEEKS from the date of the contract being signed!

PRIME Accident & Incident Reporting – “Easy & Quick”

The Forestry Commission (FC) is the government department responsible for protecting and expanding forests and woodlands inBritainand is a world leader in the development of sustainable forestry.  It is the largest single land manager in Britain and the guardian of some of our most beautiful forest, and woodland habitats.

The Commission has a vital role in timber production and supporting the forestry sector.  It is the largest producer of wood with more than 5 million tonnes of timber every year (almost 44% ofUK wood production).  The FC is also the biggest single provider of countryside recreation in across Great Britainwith more than 50 million visitors every year to the national forest estate.  It manages over 2,600 km of cycle trails and has 55 visitor centres, almost 500 car parks and maintains over 24,000 km of forest roads – that’s seven times bigger than the length of Britain’s motorways.  

When it comes to delivering recreation, regeneration and educational programmes, the Commission works in partnership with a vast range of partners including: private sector landowners; sports clubs; local authorities; national businesses and, of course, local communities.

The FC employs approximately 3200 people and manages numerous contractors and volunteer groups.

John Ireland, FC Head of Safety, Health & Environment, comments:  “After a full tendering exercise, the Forestry Commission chose the PRIME web-based accident and incident reporting system. It will replace our previous method which had evolved from a paper based system. The new system will make it easier and quicker for our staff to process incidents and accidents and produce real-time statistics”. 

“The web-based form will be very straightforward to use and can be used by all staff with access to the FC computer system.  The system asks for details of the incident, the Management Unit and the people involved. The details in the system act as both a record and a prompt to further investigation and support”.

John continued:  ”One of the other main advantages of the PRIME web-based system is that it is easier for Forestry Commission staff to report ‘near misses’.  This means that we are more likely to learn from ‘non injury’ incidents in the future.  This is all good health & safety practice and will be key in helping the organisation identify and tackle potential future accident hot spots”.

John Ireland – Safety, Health & Environment, Forestry Commission