Help with offer
Welcome to the OIC Help Hub. In this section we will guide you through what happens when the compensator makes you an offer to settle your claim. Here you will find useful resources to assist with this stage of the claim process. These include:
- Hints & Tips
- Support Guides
- FAQs
- Sample Forms
- Useful Links
Hints & Tips
The latest data* from April 2024 tells us that on average it is taking 85 days for a claimant to receive an offer and to advise the compensator of their decision. A prompt response to the compensator, following their offer, could reduce the time taken to receive your settlement.
You can help keep your claim on track by:
- Log into the system and take action
- Ensuring you add losses/fees into the system promptly (you can do this at any time until you ask for an offer to be made)
- Upload any evidence which may support your claim for losses/fees
- Being prompt to answer any in-system messages telling you there is action for you to take
*Data from unrepresented claimants.
Support Guides
To provide support with your claims process, we have created a suite of guides which contain step-by-step guidance on how best to navigate various stages during your journey through the OIC Portal.
Here are the support guides available for the Offer stage:
Counter Offer - This guide covers how you can return to the compensator and make a counter offer against their original offer.
Challenge non-whiplash - This guide covers how you can challenge the injury sections the Compensator has used when providing you with an offer.
Wait Prognosis At Offer - This guide covers how, once you have received an offer, you can wait out your prognosis period if you are still suffering.
Guide to making a claim - This guide, available in English and Welsh, explains all the legal terms and procedures you may come across when making a claim if you need further help.
Offer FAQs
Please take a look below for our most frequently asked questions surrounding the Offer stage of the claim process. If you do not find the answer to your query here, please check further down this page for additional supporting documentation which may assist you.
How do I request an offer from the compensator?
An offer is requested from the compensator after completing the following steps through the portal:
- Check the medical report is factually correct
- Select proceed to offer
- Select the medical report(s) to share with the compensator
- Answer questions on exceptional circumstances
- Added/updated any losses
- Added/updated any fees
- Sign statement of truth
- Ensure you select 'Accept and send'
What is an uplift and can I make a claim for this?
Where you have a whiplash injury or whiplash injury with minor psychological injury and the injury/injuries you have sustained is/are exceptional, you may be entitled to an uplift of up to 20% of the tariff sum (uplifts not applicable to non-tariff injuries). To be exceptional the injury must be exceptionally severe and/or your circumstances have increased your suffering as a result of the whiplash injury (and those circumstances are exceptional). The medical expert may have commented within your medical report as to whether they view the injury/injuries you have sustained is/are exceptional.
Do I need to provide evidence of any losses being claimed?
Yes, you will need to upload evidence of these losses onto the portal (for example a receipt for physiotherapy treatment sessions). Please refer to page 20 in the Guide to Making a Claim.
What are losses and can I claim for these?
You can make a claim for any losses that arise as a result of your injury/injuries. Examples include the cost of any treatment or loss of earnings due to time off work. You will need to upload evidence of these losses onto the portal (for example a receipt for physiotherapy treatment sessions). Please refer to page 20 in the Guide to Making a Claim for further information on losses.
What are fees and can I claim for these?
Fees, sometimes referred to as disbursements, do not form part of your claim. When calculating whether a claim falls above or below the £5,000 or £10,000 threshold, the value of any fees should not be included. You can claim back your fees on the portal only after you have reached a settlement for losses or you have issued court proceedings and a settlement has been agreed at court. The only fees that you can claim for are:
- Medical report fees (if not already paid by compensator)
- Fees of any other experts whose evidence is
needed to prove your claim (for example an accountant)
- Police report fees
- Medical records fees
- Court fees
- Fixed legal representative costs
How long will it take for me to receive an offer?
The compensator has 20 working days from the time you have requested an offer.
My offer refers to Tariff injury - what does this mean?
This refers to a whiplash injury to your neck/back/shoulder and can include minor psychological injuries. The tariff guidelines can be found on page 64 of the Guide to Making a Claim.
My offer refers to Non-tariff injury - what does this mean?
Injuries that are non-whiplash (for example a broken finger) are classed as non-tariff. The non-tariff guidelines can be found on pages 54-63 of the Guide to Making a Claim.
The compensator has removed my claim because they feel it is over the value limit, what can I do?
You may wish to contact the compensator to better understand their reason for removing the claim. If your personal injury claim is worth more than £5,000, or your claim (including injury and other protocol damages) is worth more than £10,000, then you will not be able to claim through Official Injury Claim and will need to seek additional advice from a solicitor, law firm, authorised claims management company or an organisation providing consumer advice.
I am not happy with the offer made to me by the compensator?
If you do not agree with the offer made by the compensator you can make a counter offer. You can do this three times. Alternatively, you can go to court over the offer you have been made. The portal will guide you through the steps that will need to be followed.
The compensator has not accepted the loss amount I've entered onto my claim, why is this?
Please check the settlement offer form, the compensator should have provided comments with the reason for the offer. You may wish to contact the compensator for further clarity.
How long will it take for me to receive a counter-offer?
It is expected that counter offers should be responded to within a maximum of 10 working days.
The compensator haven't responded to my counter-offer within the expected 10 working days. What can I do?
You may wish to make contact with the compensator directly. Alternatively, you can go to court over no offer being made. The portal will guide you through the steps that will need to be followed.
I have accepted the offer, how long until I receive my payment?
Once you have accepted the offer the compensator has made, payment should be made within 10 working days. If you have not receive payment from the compensator within this time frame you can make contact with them to learn why.
How will I receive my payment?
The compensator will contact you directly to arrange payment outside of the portal.
What happens if I do not receive payment of the agreed offer?
You may wish to make contact with the compensator directly. Alternatively, you can go to court for non payment. The portal will guide you through the steps that will need to be followed.
My claim is settled and I have further losses and/or fees to claim, what can I do?
As your claim has settled, you will not be able to claim any further losses and/or fees in the portal.
My claim is settled and I'm still suffering from my injury after the prognosis period, what can I do?
As your claim has settled, you will not be able to claim anything further for your injuries in the portal.
What file types can I upload to the portal?
File types/Description
AVI - Audio video interleave
WMV - Windows media video
MOV and QT- QuickTime format
MK - Matroska open-standard multimedia format
MP4 - MPEG-4 Part 14 Video file
AVCHD - Advanced Video Coding High Definition
BMP - Bitmap
JPEG/JPG - Joint Photographic Experts Group
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
TIFF - Tagged Image File Format
PNG - Portable Network Graphics
PDF - Portable Document Format
DOC/DOCX/ODT - MS Word
TXT - Text file
RTF - Rich text format
HTM / HTML - www format
PPT / PPTX - MS Power Point
XLS / XLSX - MS Excel
EML, MSG, PST - Email message
Please note: The file size limited is 30MB
Sample Forms
Please see below sample versions of forms which will be generated by the Official Injury Claim portal during this stage of the claim journey. We have supplied these so that you can be best prepared for how to populate them or understand their content in advance.
List of Losses - This will be generated by the OICL Portal when you have added any losses you wish to claim for, when sending your request for an offer to the compensator.
Settlement Offer Form - This will be generated by the OICL Portal when the compensator makes you an offer for your injuries and any losses.
Record of Offer and Acceptance - This will be generated by the OICL Portal when you have accepted the offer made by the compensator.
Useful Links
The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 - This link shows the whiplash tariff figures the compensator will use to make you an offer.
If you are at a different stage in your claim or haven't found what you were looking for, please refer to the Help Hub home page for further guides and support.