Personal Injury: Compensation

Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what steps the Compensation Recovery Unit takes to check the validity of the National Insurance number of claimants;

(2) what steps the Compensation Recovery Unit takes (a) to verify the identity of claimants and (b) to eliminate claims made under fictitious names;

(3) what discussions the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) has had with the National Fraud Strategic Authority on steps to reduce the number of fraudulent claims made to the CRU;

(4) what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Compensation Recovery Unit in dealing with fraudulent claims; and if she will make a statement;

(5) on how many occasions the Compensation Recovery Unit has notified insurance providers of fraudulent claims in each of the last five years;

(6) how many (a) claims the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) has dealt with and (b) fraudulent claims the CRU has identified in each of the last five years;

(7) on how many occasions the Compensation Recovery Unit found the National Insurance number in a claim submitted by an insurance company to be (a) false or incorrect and (b) not to match the name given in the last five years.

Helen Goodman
When an insurance company advises Compensation Recovery Unit of a claim to compensation they are not legally bound to supply a National Insurance number. However, they are required to provide sufficient information to ensure that the Department can trace the benefit records of the appropriate person. Compensation Recovery Unit is able to trace and validate the appropriate person’s personal details, including their national insurance number, through the Department’s central data repository, the Customer Information System (CIS).

Claims, fraudulent or otherwise, are not made to the Compensation Recovery Unit. The Compensation Recovery Unit is there to recover money paid out in benefit as a result of any accident, injury or disease which is covered by an award of compensation or any ambulance or hospital treatment charges incurred as a result of an accident or injury.

A compensator, usually an insurance company, must notify the Compensation Recovery Unit of a compensation claim so that the Department can take steps to reclaim any benefits paid or ambulance/hospital charges where appropriate.