13. Estimated liabilities of Delegated State Authorities
| 2017 Number of claims |
2016 Number of claims |
|
|---|---|---|
| At 1 January | 8,898 | 8,275 |
| New claims | 3,259 | 2,889 |
| Resolved claims | (2,233) | (2,306) |
| Other claims 1 | 32 | 40 |
| At 31 December 2 | 9,956 | 8,898 |
- 1Other claims include claims re-opened in the period, claims closed in the period and designated to a prior period.
- 2The number of active claims at 31 December 2017 includes 2,197 (2016: 1,797) mass action claims.
At 31 December 2017, the estimated liability of Delegated State Authorities in respect of claims under management by the SCA was €2,662m (2016: €2,201m), of which €1,984m (2016: €1,671m) was attributable to clinical claims and €678m (2016: €530m) to general claims. The estimated liability is calculated by reference to the ultimate cost of resolving each claim including all foreseeable costs such as settlement amounts, plaintiff legal costs and defence costs. The estimated liability does not include incurred but not reported (IBNR) claims to the SCA.
In respect of relevant active clinical claims at 31 December 2017, the SCA has based its estimated liability on a real rate of return of 1% on claims for the cost of future care and 1.5% for future pecuniary loss.