Insurance

If you have suffered an injury and/or property damage, and you consider the Vale of Glamorgan Council to be responsible, please complete our insurance claim form

Please think carefully before making a claim:

Any claim will ultimately have to be paid for from council resources.
The cost of processing unsuccessful claims is a drain on staff time and diverts resources from front line services.

In some cases you may have other insurances that cover the relevant damage or injury. Your own insurance company may be able to assist you in such cases.

They would usually be able to do so more quickly and without any future premium penalty or, in the cases of property losses, without deduction for wear and tear, as would normally be applied to a liability property damage claim.

To successfully claim compensation from the Council you will need to prove that the Council has been at fault in law. There is no automatic entitlement to compensation, and just because an incident has happened it does not necessarily mean the Council will be held to blame.

If you are a Vale Housing tenant and have your contents insured through the council and wish to make a claim via this Policy, please contact Rent Support in the usual way.

You MUST provide the following information:

A clear summary of the facts on which the claim is based including the time and date of the incident.
An indication of the nature and extent of your injury(ies) and/or details of any property damage
Details of any financial loss suffered
Sufficient other information to enable formal investigations to start e.g. a plan of the incident location and/or photograph(s) clearly identifying the location.

IMPORTANT: Without this information the claim cannot be processed

The Council will only pay compensation where evidence of negligence or a breach of statutory duty on behalf of the Council and/or its employees exists. Each claim will be investigated fully and judged on its individual merits.

The Council will not consider claims that are a result of the negligence of contractors.

Please make sure you read and follow the instructions detailed on any claim form. This will ensure that your claim is handled efficiently and a prompt settlement decision can be made.

In order to manage expectations in terms of the time-frame for handling any claim, the Council follows the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). Therefore we will meet the following deadlines:

Acknowledgement of claim within 21 days
The Council has 3 months from acknowledgement of your claim to investigate the circumstances that gave rise to
your claim and provide a response on liability.
In addition to the deadlines imposed by the CPR the Council will endeavour to respond to any correspondence from
you within 14 days.

For further information please contact C1V:

01446 700111
contactonevale@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

Claims Process

The Insurance and Risk Management Section will acknowledge receipt of your claim within 15 working days and may forward your claim to the Council’s external insurance claims handlers.

The claims handlers will acknowledge receipt within 5 working days.

The Council will investigate the allegations and send a report to the claims handlers.

Claims are always processed as quickly as possible, however, the law allows up to 3 months to investigate personal injury claims and decide whether or not there has been fault on the part of the Council. Whilst there is no such time limit for property only claims, the Council will endeavour to provide a decision on liability within 3 months.

If the claim is for damage to your property the claims handlers will require original receipts and/or replacement estimates and confirmation of the age of the items. Please be aware that any offer of settlement will not be on a new for old basis and as such will be adjusted for wear and tear.

As well as the information outlined above the claims handlers may also ask you to provide your full name, date of birth and National Insurance number, if not already supplied.

If your claim is for injury, medical evidence will need to be gathered. The claims handlers will forward a form for completion to allow them to approach your GP/hospital for a report. Please be aware that the amount of time it takes to receive the report can vary widely and is something over which they have no control other than to issue regular reminders. You can of course chase the GP/hospital yourself in this instance.

If the GP/hospital report is not sufficient to accurately assess the value of your injuries the claims handlers may have to appoint a consultant who will need to examine you to prepare a comprehensive report. This process can be lengthy and may take a number of months.

Final Outcome

Once all of the evidence has been collated and assessed the claims handlers will make a decision based on the legal liability of the Council.

If it is concluded that there is no liability and the claims handlers are not paying your claim you will receive a letter detailing why. If you wish to discuss this further you need to contact the claims handlers.

If liability is accepted the claims handlers will make an offer of compensation, in writing, which they consider will accurately reflect an appropriate level of compensation in the circumstances.

Please Note: Fraud - Any claim that is found to have been fraudulently intimated or exaggerated, whether during the processing of the claim or subsequently, may be passed to the Police and/or Crown Prosecution Service and may be subject to a criminal prosecution.