Bar welcomes Discount Rate change

The Bar welcomes the news from the Department of Justice that it intends to change the personal injury discount rate. The proposal, which follows years of lobbying by the Bar, will see secondary legislation laid before the NI Assembly to change the current rate from 2.5 per cent to a new rate of minus 1.75 per cent from the end of May 2021.

The changes will improve access to justice in serious personal injury cases, finally bringing some certainty for people with life-changing injuries. These are people who have been waiting to settle their personal injury claims for years as Northern Ireland has been out of line with the rest of the UK with an inappropriately high discount rate last set in 2001.

Read more and view the Bar’s response to the recent public consultation on a new legal framework for the setting of the personal injury discount rate which will be taken forward separately under the Damages (Return on Investment) Bill.