-- Let us handle the financial burden of pursuing your claim

Insurer Norwich Union has called for a termination of personal injury claims that fall under a cap of £1,000. Bruises and non-disfiguring cuts would be excluded if the insurer gets its way.

Additionally, successful claims of less than £5,000 would not be liable for the payment of legal fees associated with pursuing the claim.

Norwich Union believes that such actions would effectively end the UK's "have a go" compensation culture and would put a severe impediment on so-called "frivolous" claims.

Such claims, the insurer contended, are clogging up the compensation system and leading to legal fees accounting for 40% of all payouts.

"Claims management companies and solicitors have exploited the public's expectations in terms of what is compensatable, and the amounts that might be achieved," Dominic Clayden, director of technical claims, said.

"The inevitable consequences have been an increase in frivolous and vexatious claims, and an explosion in claimant's costs. The latter now represents 40% of all payouts."

Norwich Unions has issued a set of proposals that, in its opinion, would reform the UK's "compensation culture" and put the onus on the employee regarding filing claims that are worthy and responsible.

Those reforms would include: personal injury claims worth less than £1,000 should not be allowed; legal costs should not be covered in compensation cases where less than £5,000 is awarded; no legal costs should be payable where there is no dispute over compensation; faster payment of compensation; breakdowns in the claims process, whether about responsibility or amount, should be mediated before litigated; and medical rehabilitation has to be first consideration and failure on the part of the claimant to embrace this should be reflected in the amount of the settlement.

Not everyone agrees with Norwich Union, however, even taking issue with the notion of a culture bent on suing to get ahead.

A report by market analyst Datamonitor, to be published on Friday, will reportedly describe the UK's compensation culture as a 'myth'. The report will maintain that the actual increase in costs is due to rise of medical and legal costs while the total number of claims has decreased over the past five years.

It also calls to account the role the media has played in playing up the compensation culture while not backing its claims with fact checking or raw data.

"The level of media coverage that surrounds personal injuries claims has created a myth about the rise in numbers, and there certainly is a degree of sensationalism about it, but the underlying trend is that claims numbers are falling," David Stephenson, Datamonitor analyst, said.