Personal injuries ‘stable’ in 2025, says IRB
The Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) says that figures from its latest report on personal injuries show “stability”, with little change in the volume of claims last year.
Its report on personal-injuries award values includes detailed figures for the second half of 2025, as well as an overall picture of the full year.
The board received 20,077 claim applications during the year – a 4% fall compared with 2024 and 35% lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Employer-liability claims were up 1%, but the motor and public-liability categories recorded falls of 3% and 2%, respectively.
Impact of guidelines
“These sustained reductions continue to suggest that the introduction of the Personal Injuries Guidelines has had a significant impact on the personal-injury claims environment,” the report states.
The guidelines, introduced in 2021, apply only to general damages, which cover pain and suffering arising from an injury. They do not cover special damages for specifically identifiable financial losses incurred because of an accident.
The report shows that the median award for general damages in the second half of 2025 was €12,000 – down 29% compared with the pre-guidelines 2020 figure.
The median figure for special damages in the second half of 2025 was €910 – an increase of 34% compared with 2020. The IRB says that the increase has been driven by inflation in areas such as medical treatments, vehicle repairs, and claims for loss of earnings.
Award values up 6%
The report says that award values were “relatively stable” in the second half of 2025, with the median award of €14,170 up 6% compared with the same period a year earlier.
There were small increases in motor (2%) and public-liability (3%) awards in 2025, but the median figure for employer-liability claims jumped by 27% to €20,600.
The IRB attributes the employer-liability increase to a greater proportion of claims linked to more severe injuries, with special damages for loss of earnings and other out-of-pocket expenses also increasing for such awards.
“Median special damages in this category of claim have increased by 17%, reflecting both the severity in the nature of injuries leading to greater treatment costs and loss of earnings, as well as inflationary impacts on costs,” the report says.
The board says the median figure is a better indicator of underlying trends than the average, which is affected by high-value awards.
Fewer minor-severity awards
The average award value in 2025 increased by 8% to €20,559, as the board made over 50 awards valued at over €100,000 in the second half of last year, compared with 30 in the first half of 2025, and 30 in the second half of 2024.
The IRB says that the median award value for the second half of 2025 highlights “a significant sustained reduction” in compensation amounts since the introduction of the guidelines in 2021.
The board says that there has been a consistent decline in the proportion of minor-severity injuries it has assessed since the introduction of the guidelines.
In 2021, 86% of awards were classified as minor severity. By the second half of 2025, this proportion had decreased to 74%.
The share of awards for moderate-to-severe injuries, however, has increased from 15% to 27% in the same period.
“This indicates that more serious and complex claims are increasingly being retained and resolved by the Injuries Resolution Board rather than proceeding to litigation,” it states.
Acceptance rate falls
The board recorded a consent rate of 69% in 2025 – down from 71% the previous year.
The acceptance rate of 47% fell from 50% in 2024. The IRB says that the figure may been affected by some uncertainty about revised guidelines.
The IRB’s annual report, also published today (8 July) shows that it awarded €213 million in compensation last year – up €45 million compared with the previous year. It says that €88 million was saved in avoided legal costs.