48Impairment benefit where more than one accident involved

48 Impairment benefit where more than one accident involved (1) In this section, the ***relevant date*** is the date of commencement of section 13 of the **Transport Accident (Amendment) Act 2004**. (2) This section applies if— (a) a person is injured as a result of one or more transport accidents; and (b) the person has a total degree of impairment of 11% or more as a result of that accident, or those accidents; and (c) the person is injured in a subsequent transport accident, and the person's total degree of impairment is increased by 1% or more as a result of that subsequent accident. (3) This section also applies if— (a) a person is injured as a result of one or more transport accidents; and (b) the person has a total degree of impairment of 1% or more, but less than 11%, as a result of that accident, or those accidents; and (c) the person is injured in a subsequent transport accident, and the person's total degree of impairment as a result of the transport accidents is increased to 11% or more; and (d) the person has not previously become entitled to a benefit under this section. (4) The person is entitled to an impairment benefit under section 47(2), as at the date of determination of the last relevant degree of impairment, as if the total degree of impairment attributable to the initial accident, or accidents, and the subsequent accident resulted from a single accident. (5) If the person has already been paid an impairment benefit under subsection (4) in respect of an earlier accident, or earlier accidents, the person is entitled to be paid the difference between the amount the person is entitled to in accordance with subsection (4) for his or her current total degree of impairment and the amount that he or she has already been paid as an impairment benefit. (6) Subsection (4) does not apply in respect of any accident that occurred before the relevant date (except accidents that did not result in a person having a total degree of impairment of 11% or more). (7) Subsection (8) applies if— (a) a person has a total degree of impairment of 11% or more as a result of one or more transport accidents that occurred before the relevant date; and (b) the person is injured in a transport accident that occurs on or after the relevant date, and the person's total degree of impairment as a result of that subsequent accident is increased by 1% or more. (8) If this subsection applies, the person is entitled to an amount that is the result of the following calculation— T – N "**T**" is the amount that would be payable as an impairment benefit under section 47(2), as at the date of determination of the last relevant degree of impairment, as if the person's total degree of impairment attributable to transport accidents resulted from a single accident; "**N**" is the notional amount that the person would have been entitled to as an impairment benefit under section 47(2) on the relevant date in respect of the total degree of impairment resulting from transport accidents in respect of which he or she received, or was entitled to receive, an impairment benefit under this Act before that date. (9) If the person has already been paid an impairment benefit under subsection (8) in respect of an earlier accident, or earlier accidents, the person is entitled to be paid the difference between the amount the person is entitled to in accordance with subsection (8) for his or her current total degree of impairment and the amount that he or she has already been paid under that subsection. (10) A reference in this section to "under this section" is a reference to this section as inserted by section 13 of the **Transport Accident (Amendment) Act 2004**. (11) This section is to be read as if it were part of section 47, unless the contrary intention appears.