Rules for NHS compensation are to change again after costs spiral

The UK government is again to change the method for setting the personal injury discount rate, after deciding that the last change, made six months ago, has overcompensated people who have been seriously injured through negligence.1

The rate, the notional return to be expected from investing a lump sum award, is used in calculating payouts for injury, including those for clinical negligence. It is intended to provide full compensation, neither more nor less.

Calculated in relation to the retail price index, the rate was slashed last March from 2.5%, set in June 2001, to −0.75%, causing the NHS compensation …