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An Association of British Insurers (BIA) representative has said that Knowsley Council should be the model that all other councils in the country follow.

Justin Jackson was speaking at the Liverpool Law Society and as reported on the BBC web site he had this to say, "The council is sending out a clear message that it is not a soft touch for cheats".

He was speaking about the fact that thanks to vigilance in maintaining pavement on government properties and thorough checking and investigation of personal injury claims against the council, Knowsley has managed to save taxpayers a whopping £1.8 million last year in payouts for false claims.

Three years ago, Knowsley had about 1700 personal injury claims per year, that figure has been slashed to 400. "This is good news for the honest taxpayer who ends up footing the bill and it helps the council deal with genuine claimants more quickly," Jackson said.

The council focused in on fraudulent claims regarding pavement falls and injuries. They handed over any cases that they determined were people trying to commit fraud against the council to the police. The courts gave stiff penalties to people found guilty of trying to swindle the council. For example, in May of 2005 Sandra Stevenson filed a personal injury claim against Knowsley council claiming that she fell on broken pavement and injured her back. Thorough investigation by council staff revealed what they believed was fraud. They handed the case over to the police and she was found guilty and sentenced to four months behind bars. Since then, they have handed more than a hundred cases to the police.

They also have used their computer systems to cross reference cases to see if one person might have multiple cases or if the same person is a plaintiff in one case and a witness in another making both of the cases highly suspicious. Since the council established a zero tolerance for fraud and have made their activities public knowledge, cases have fallen away. The barrage of cases that they had been having, many thanks to No Win- No Fee lawyers, have fallen away because only legitimate cases will now be attended to and all others will be handed over to the police.