Chapter 4 of 9: What an injury is worth: Rule-change tracker
Personal injury law in Ireland, 2026: what is in force, what is approved but not in force, and what is still a proposal
Checked 24 October 2026against the Judicial Council, the Board, the Irish Statute Book, the Oireachtas and the Central Bank.
The Personal Injuries Guidelines adopted in March 2021 are still the Guidelines in force. The Judicial Council approved a 16.7% overall increase in December 2024, but it needs the Oireachtas, which has not been asked; the General Scheme of the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill 2026 would move reviews to every five years. The Board's respondent charge rose to €1,200 on 1 December 2025. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is being amended after the Court of Justice of the European Union to cover pain and suffering. Section 220 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, which would change the one-month letter, is not commenced. This page keeps those apart.
Key dates each year
Board annual report
July (the Annual Report and the January to June Award Values Report)
Award values reports
January (July to December) and July (January to June)
Fees regulations
Any time; the respondent charge last changed on 1 December 2025
Budget day
October (Injury Benefit and other welfare rates for the following January)
The Board config is re-read on every fees regulation and every annual report; the welfare block on every Budget.
What changed
Respondent charge €1,200 · from 1 December 2025
From 1 December 2025 the charge a respondent pays the Board for an assessment or mediation is €1,200, up from €1,050 (S.I. No. 557/2025).
The Board's 2025 figures · from 8 July 2026
The Annual Report 2025 (8 July 2026): 20,077 applications, 10,032 awards, a median award of €14,020, a 47% acceptance rate during 2025 and a 54% mediation agreement rate.
Injury Benefit €254 a week · from 1 January 2026
The Budget 2026 rate for Injury Benefit and Illness Benefit from January 2026, to be checked against the Department's page.
What did not change
The Personal Injuries Guidelines of 6 March 2021: every bracket the injury checker shows is the 2021 figure. The approved 16.7% increase is not in force.
The two-year limitation period from the accident or the later date of knowledge, and the one-month section 8 letter.
The Board's periods: 90 days for the respondent, 9 months to assess from consent, 28 days for the claimant and 21 for the respondent to accept, the 10-day cooling-off after a mediated agreement.
The application fee: €45 online, €90 by post.
The costs rule in section 51A where a claimant rejects an assessment the respondent accepted.
What is being tracked
The amended Personal Injuries Guidelines: the 16.7% increase
Approved by the Judicial Council, not in force
What it affects: Every bracket in lib/rules/guidelines.config.json and the injury checker. The Judicial Council Act 2019 (as amended by the Personal Injuries Resolution Board Act 2022) requires a positive resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas before amended Guidelines take effect. Until then the 2021 figures apply, and the config is edition-aware so a second edition can be added with an effectiveFrom.
6 March 2021, done
Guidelines adopted by the Judicial Council
Adopted under section 7 of the Judicial Council Act 2019; they apply to claims not assessed by the Board before 24 April 2021.
Amended Guidelines approved by the Judicial Council
The Council approved the amendments in December 2024. They take effect only after a positive resolution of each House of the Oireachtas, which the Minister has not moved; the Law Society Gazette reported in October 2025 and January 2026 that the Government had not put them to the Oireachtas.
Only then do the amended figures take effect, from the date the resolution or the Guidelines specify. The config gains a second edition with an effectiveFrom and the injury checker shows both until the switch date.
What it affects: How often the Guidelines are reviewed (every five years instead of three) and a route for the Council to reconsider amendments the Oireachtas does not approve. It does not itself change any bracket.
20 January 2026, now
General Scheme approved by Government
The Government approved the General Scheme of the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill 2026 in January 2026: reviews of the Guidelines every five years, and a reconsideration mechanism. Carson McDowell's March 2026 overview summarises it.
Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme: pain and suffering
Amended Scheme in force from 27 July 2026; ministerial guidance on quantum not yet published
What it affects: What the Scheme pays: historically expenses and loss only, not general damages. The Court of Justice of the European Union's ruling on the Compensation Directive led the Government to amend the Scheme, in force from 27 July 2026, to cover pain and suffering. The two-year absolute limit is unchanged. NEEDS HUMAN REVIEW: the criminal-injuries guide's description of what the Scheme pays needs updating to say pain and suffering is now included, under new paragraph 8A, subject to ministerial guidance not yet published as of this check.
20 April 2021, done
The 2021 Scheme: two-year absolute limit
The revised Scheme made the two-year application limit absolute and kept the exclusion of pain and suffering.
The Law Society Gazette reported in July 2026 that the Scheme is being amended following the CJEU to compensate pain and suffering. The commencement date and the terms are to be confirmed against the published Scheme.
The Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted, published by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and headed "Effective from 27 July 2026", removes the earlier exclusion of pain and suffering under a new paragraph 8A. The quantum is calculated within guidance to be issued by the Minister from time to time; that guidance had not been published as of this check. Claims submitted before 27 July 2026 and not yet finalised keep the earlier terms for heads other than pain and suffering (paragraph 20A). The criminal injuries guide needs updating to match.
Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, section 220: the section 8 letter
Enacted 2015, not commenced
What it affects: Section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 (the one-month letter) and, under section 221, a three-year limitation period for clinical negligence actions. Neither is in force; the time-limit checker applies the current one month and two years.
30 December 2015, now
Act signed
Sections 220 and 221 are in the Act but have never been commenced; the revised text of section 8 shows them as pending amendments.
Injury Benefit and Illness Benefit rates: Budget 2027
Awaiting Budget 2027 and the Social Welfare Act
What it affects: The Injury Benefit weekly rate the special damages worksheet uses as the expected deduction. The 2027 rate is entered in lib/rules/board.config.json with an effectiveFrom as soon as the Act is made.
1 January 2026, now
€254 a week in force
The Budget 2026 rate, to be checked against the Department's page.
Next: Award Values Report January to June 2026 (January 2027)
What it affects: The figures register (/figures): the median, average, highest award, acceptance rate and application count. The monthly routine reads the Board's news page; a human merges.
8 July 2026, now
Annual Report 2025 and Award Values Report July to December 2025
20,077 applications, a median of €14,020, 47% acceptance, 54% mediation agreement, €88 million in savings claimed.
The Central Bank's National Claims Information Database reports
Next: private motor report, autumn 2026
What it affects: The channel figures on /figures and in the accept-or-reject explainer: what a claim costs and how long it takes settled directly, through the Board, or litigated. NEEDS HUMAN REVIEW: RTE reported on 20 October 2026 that the Central Bank published its 2025 National Claims Information Database private motor insurance report (average premium up 4% to EUR655; Injuries Resolution Board claims averaging 2.6 years against 4.7 years through litigation; average compensation down 13% on 2019): https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/1020/1596018-motor-insurance-costs/. This routine's environment cannot fetch centralbank.ie directly to confirm the report itself. A human should check https://www.centralbank.ie/statistics/data-and-analysis/national-claims-information-database, flip the `motor-2026` stage to done with its date and official source, update `currentStageId`, and enter the 2025 figures in lib/figures/register.config.json centralBank.channelMix.
31 October 2025, now
Private motor report (2024 data)
16% of motor injury claims settled through the Board in 2.7 years on average; 36% through litigation in 5 years.
Checked daily against the official record first. Each entry links the source it came from and says which kind it is.
21 October 2026, organisation
Litigation remains the main channel for injury claims
The Law Society Gazette reports the Central Bank's 2025 National Claims Information Database report (20 October 2026) found litigation remained the predominant channel for settling injury claims, though compensation through the Injuries Resolution Board was comparable to other channels for claims under €100,000. Claims made up about 60% of premiums received, with injury compensation around 17% and vehicle damage 32%.
Central Bank data: personal injury claims costs up 14%
The Irish Times reports Central Bank data, from the same motor insurance report noted below, showing the average personal injury claims cost per policy rose 14% to €228 in 2025, against a 6% rise to €197 for vehicle damage. Insurers link the rise partly to larger claims and more cases going to litigation, driving up legal costs.
Central Bank: 2025 motor claims settle faster through the Board
RTÉ reports that the Central Bank's 2025 National Claims Information Database private motor report found average premiums up 4% to €655, injury claims through the Injuries Resolution Board averaging 2.6 years against 4.7 years through litigation, and average compensation down 13% on 2019.
Amended Guidelines submitted to Minister; no Oireachtas vote sought
Following the Council's meeting of 31 January 2025, the amended Guidelines were submitted to the Minister for Justice under section 7(2B) of the Judicial Council Act 2019, on 4 February 2025. Irish Legal News reported in January 2026 that the Minister "decided not to seek approval for the increase from the Oireachtas"; the 2021 Guidelines remain in force and no resolution has been moved.
The amended Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted took effect on 27 July 2026. It removes the earlier exclusion of pain and suffering under a new paragraph 8A, but the quantum is calculated within guidance the Minister has not yet published. Claims made before that date keep the earlier terms for heads other than pain and suffering.
Budget 2027 raises core welfare rates by €10 a week
The Budget delivered on 6 October 2026 raises core weekly social welfare rates by €10 from January 2027, covering about 1.6 million people including pensioners, jobseekers, carers and disability recipients. Press coverage did not name Illness Benefit or Injury Benefit specifically; the exact 2027 Injury Benefit rate awaits the Social Welfare Act.