Claimant solicitors are to fund half of the cost of the Road Traffic Accident Portal, the Gazette has learned, in a move that claimant lawyers believe will give them more say in how the system operates.

The portal, which launched last year as an information exchange to speed up claims, has until now been 100% funded by a levy contribution from insurers.

But the board of the RTA Portal Co, which runs the scheme and is divided equally between insurers and claimants, has now voted that costs can be split 50/50. The change may be introduced by the end of the year.

Tim Wallis, independent chairman of the RTA Portal Co, said: ‘If one party controls the purse strings you can’t sit around the table on an equal basis.

‘Both sides recognise the best way to operate is on a 50/50 basis, but... we don’t want something bureaucratic and likely to cause friction.’

The Ministry of Justice is currently considering raising the maximum value of RTA claims dealt with through the portal system from £10,000 to £25,000.