The Government Actuary’s Department: moving towards the review of the discount rate

“After the Civil Liability Bill received Royal Assent on 20 December 2018 the Lord Chancellor has 90 days to start a review of the rate and then must determine the rate within 140 days of the review commencing.  This means that the latest the new rate may be set is August 2019.

“To date the Lord Chancellor has not announced the review of the rate.

“In anticipation of the review, on 22 January 2019 the Government Actuary’s Department (“GAD”) published a paper “Setting the Personal Injury Discount Rate”, which is intended to explain the “analytical approach” the GAD will adopt when providing its response to the review.  Although it is not soliciting comments the paper says that comments anyone may wish to make should be provided to the address contained in the document by 18 February 2019.

“The paper sets out the fundamental methodology around modelling claimant outcomes the GAD will take, the significant assumptions the GAD will make when considering the appropriate investment portfolios, damage profiles and economic scenarios and then outlines the outputs that will be produced as part of its analysis.  It is a dry read but an interesting one.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/772691/Setting_the_Personal_Injury_Discount_Rate.pdf”