UK Personal Injury Market Report 2026

Improved Market Growth But Gap Widens Between Leading Firms and Others

The 11th annual edition of the report that provides a review of the market, looking at the market structure, key issues and new developments, market size and trends, the key players, future market developments.

Key Highlights

• The analyst estimates that the PI market was valued at £4.60bn in 2025, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year. Value growth in 2025 has been the strongest recorded over the last five years. Overall claims numbers continue to fall but the move by many firms to higher-value claims has helped to grow market value.
• Despite the drop in claims numbers most of the leading players in the market reported healthy turnover and profits growth in their latest financial accounts but this is exacerbating the gap between the larger firms and the SME firms that are still in the market but struggling. This gap is likely to widen as more investment in digital infrastructure, particularly AI solutions, by the larger players improves operating efficiency and reduces costs. There are some smaller boutique PI firms that can survive as they deal with specialist injuries and negligence and have built a strong reputation in these specific areas. However, despite the overall reduction in the number of firms in the market, there are still too many firms, and some SME firms will be squeezed so market exits will continue with more WIP files transferred to others.
• Revenues for many firms handling higher value claims will also be boosted by a stronger emphasis on services for clients during the claim, and after the claim has been completed. Alongside the monetary compensation, rehabilitation, treatment and counselling services will become increasingly integral to the services offered.
• For the seventh year running, claims registered at the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) fell to 435,565 in 2025/26 from 447,973 in the previous year. Motor-related cases are the largest category with 300,867 registered claims in the latest year falling from 312,283 in 2024/25. Motor claims registered have more than halved in the last decade.
• Total CRU settlements recorded were 475,878 in 2025/26 down from 508,160 in the previous year.
• Value market growth is expected to show steady improvement up to 2028 starting with an increase of 5.4% to an estimated £4.85bn in 2026. Between 2025 and 2029 CAGR for market value is forecast at 5.3%. Any extension of the fixed costs regime would have some negative impact on these forecasts.