Personal Injury Claims UK | Trusted Compensation Claim Experts

Many people who contact us ask us what the personal injury claims process is like. If you've never made a compensation claim before, we appreciate that it can feel a little daunting. However, it doesn't need to be. This is what you can expect when you choose to make a personal injury claim:

• First, your solicitor will review your case and available evidence. They'll then present the claim to the defendant, setting out the allegations of fault.
• The defendant should then acknowledge the claim and conduct its own investigations.
• While the defendant investigates, your solicitor may ask you to attend a medical assessment with an independent expert. This expert will then produce a report giving an opinion as to whether or not the injuries were caused by the accident.
• The defendant may make an admission of liability once it's conducted its own investigations. At this stage, the medical report may be disclosed.
• Negotiations for a settlement may commence at this stage. If an agreement can be reached, the personal injury claim may be resolved.
• If no agreement can be reached, the case may be issued in court, which begins the process of taking the defendant to trial. However, few claims reach this stage and even fewer make it to the courtroom

This is a general overview of what you can expect when you make a personal injury compensation claim.

If you'd like to learn more about the process of making a claim, please get in touch.

The success of any case relies on the strength of the evidence provided, and the same applies to personal injury claims in the UK. If you decide to pursue the possibility of starting a claim after being injured due to another party’s negligence, then gathering evidence that can support your case is one of the first steps you should take. If you choose to hire a solicitor to support your claim, then they should be able to assist with this process.

Evidence is used to prove to the defendant and to the court that your case is valid. A failure to provide evidence to support a claim means it’s unlikely a defendant would pay out compensation.

Obtaining evidence is one of the most important stages of a personal injury claim. Luckily, there are lots of easy ways that you can gather what you need. Here are some tips: 

• Check to see if there is any CCTV footage of your accident. This could come from security cameras, for instance. In road traffic accidents, some drivers may also have dashcams that could capture the incident.
• If you’re able to, take photographs of the scene of the accident and what you believe the cause of it was. For example, if you tripped over a pothole, take clear pictures of it. 
• To ensure that you get compensated for any financial losses caused by your injuries, keep all receipts, bills and invoices. For example, if you had to get a taxi to places where you’d otherwise drive, keep a log of each journey and a receipt showing the cost. Likewise, keep the receipts of any medication you had to pay for. The same goes for any lost earnings if you had to take time off work and didn’t get paid. Keep hold of your payslips for the months before your accident and then the months since it happened so it’s possible to work out the difference in pay. 
• If your accident was recorded in a report book, try to get hold of a copy of the entry and make sure that what’s been recorded is an accurate reflection of what happened. This is particularly relevant to workplace accident cases and public liability claims, such as accidents in a restaurant. 
• Evidence of the treatment you’ve received for your personal injuries can also be useful. Your solicitor can help obtain this by requesting copies of your medical records on your behalf, for example.

In short, the more evidence you have, the better job your specialist personal injury solicitor can do in fighting your case. They can also help you obtain further evidence to help establish fault on the part of the defendant.

For more advice on proving a personal injury claim, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’re more than happy to answer any question, big or small. 

All road users have a duty of care to one another as established in The Highway Code. These are a set of rules designed to outline correct road conduct. In doing this, it also highlights negligent road conduct as anything that goes against this code. This is to help prevent a road traffic accident (RTA) from occurring.

Examples of scenarios in which you may be able to claim include:

• Another driver colliding with your vehicle due to going above the speed limit. This could lead to you suffering a ligament and tendon injury, for example.
• Another vehicle crashing into you due to them mistiming when to turn onto a roundabout, causing you to endure broken bones. This could cause you to look up accident claims and seek fracture compensation.

However, if your injuries from a road traffic accident are worth less than £5,000, you will have to claim through a different method. This is explained in The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. You can check how much compensation your personal injury claim could be worth by getting in touch with us using the button at the top of the page.

We provide free legal advice and you may have underestimated what your injuries could be worth. We can also connect you with our panel of specialist personal injury lawyers.

Your employer has a duty of care to take reasonably practicable steps to make sure your workplace is safe and secure. It’s not just about being able to perform your role to the required level—it’s about making sure, within reason, that all steps are taken so you can perform all daily tasks safely while using their premises. This is outlined in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

As such, if you’ve suffered accidents at work resulting in injury, it may be due to employer negligence. And if so, you could make a personal injury compensation claim.

Examples of instances where you may be able to claim for employer negligence include:

• Suffering personal injuries at work because your employer failed to maintain a piece of machinery, despite reports of faults.
• A failure by your employer to keep walkways clear, repair broken handrails on stairwells or clean up spillages, leading to you falling over and hurting yourself.
• Looking to make an accident at work claim due to being made to use faulty equipment, such as a ladder. This could lead to you falling off it and reading No Win No Fee solicitors reviews to gain legal advice.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance on work-related injuries. To find out more about instances where you may be able to make accident at work claims, you can visit their website. Or reach out to us to talk about your personal injury case against your employer for free.

You may also be looking to make a claim due to injuring yourself in a public place. People who control public places are often referred to as the ‘occupier’.

Occupiers have a duty of care to every member of the public that uses their facilities. They need to take reasonable steps to make sure the general public are safe when using the space. This duty of care is outlined in the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.

Examples of this kind of negligence include:

• Falling downstairs due to a faulty handrail that the occupier was aware of but didn’t fix.
• Tripping over exposed wiring that the occupier laid but didn’t ensure was safe.

If you have any questions at all about making a public liability claim, get in touch. We can advise you on your case and if you’d like to proceed, can connect you with our panel of expert personal injury lawyers.

You may be wondering about how compensation is calculated for personal injury claims in the UK. Several factors are considered such as severity, prognosis and impact on your quality of life. As such, the amount you are awarded will differ depending on your unique circumstances.

For claims made in England and Wales, settlements are split into two heads of claim. They’re referred to as general damages and special damages. Both payments address different areas of your injury and its effect on your life. We have broken them down in more detail below.

General Damages 

This portion of the settlement addresses the pain and suffering you have experienced due to your injuries. Compensation can be awarded for both physical and mental damage. Generally speaking, the more severe your injuries are, the more a general damages payment tends to be worth.

The severity of an injury is often gauged by things like the need for ongoing medical treatment and whether or not the injuries will heal at all.

In a successful personal injury claim, you will often always receive compensation under general damages.

Special Damages

Some claims can also include a figure that reimburses you for the financial impact your injuries have had on you. It’s important that you have proof of these expenses so that you can claim the money back.

If eligible to receive a special damages payment, it can include figures associated with costs such as a loss of earnings, damage to your property, or even medical expenses.

If you have any questions about what else could be included as part of a special damages payment. Get in touch with our advisors today.

Advice On Claiming Back Lost Earnings In Accident Claims

If you've had to take time off work to recover from an accident-related injury, you may have lost earnings.

Whether your employer continues to pay your usual salary during your absence depends on your employment contract and any workplace sick pay policy.

You may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you meet the relevant eligibility requirements. However, SSP isn't guaranteed for everyone, and what you receive may be less than your normal earnings.

If your accident resulted from another party's negligence, you may be able to recover lost earnings as part of your personal injury compensation claim.

To support your claim, you should keep:

• Payslips and bank statements from before and after your accident to demonstrate any reduction in earnings.
• Employment records confirming your absence from work and any sick pay received.
• Evidence of lost overtime, commission or bonuses that you would otherwise have earned.

You may also be able to claim for future lost earnings if your injuries affect your ability to return to work or reduce your earning capacity.

For further guidance, read our loss of earnings compensation guide or contact our team to discuss your circumstances.

Is There An Average Payout For A Personal Injury Claim In The UK?

No, there isn't an average payout for a personal injury claim. Each case is unique, with differing severities of injuries and circumstances. The impact the injuries can have may vary from person to person too. As a result, it's difficult to state an "average". Instead, each case is judged on its own merits.

It’s possible to include a variety of financial costs and losses within personal injury claims, provided those losses are directly related to the injuries suffered.

Let’s go into more detail about the types of things you can claim for:

• We’ve mentioned loss of earnings above, but it’s also possible to claim for future loss of earnings in a personal injury claim. This will apply to cases that involve more serious, life-changing injuries. If you cannot work again due to losing a leg, for example, you can claim the money you would have earned if you hadn’t been injured. Future losses like this are usually paid annually rather than in a lump sum.
• It’s also possible to claim back any care costs relating to the injury. If, for example, your partner or parent had to look after you while you recovered from a broken leg, you can claim an hourly rate for the time they spent caring for you. Care can include cooking, cleaning or helping you get dressed. Therefore, keep a note of how many hours per day or week people looked after you. 
• You can claim back the cost of travel relating to the injury too. So if you could drive beforehand but had to take taxis, train or buses instead, you can claim back those costs. Again, keep receipts so you can recover them without issue.
• The same applies to medication costs. If you had to buy painkillers to manage the symptoms of your injury, you can also claim back these losses too.
• One thing that you can claim for which is something a lot of our clients make a claim for is to get private medical treatment. While the service provided by the NHS is first-class, waiting times and delays in treatment can go on for months if not years. As part of your personal injury claim, you can claim for the cost of private medical treatment, such as operations and rehabilitation.

If you’re at all unsure about what you can claim back, please get in touch with Personal Injury Claims UK today.

A No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could help you receive thousands of pounds of compensation. Benefits of using them include:

• Not having to pay any legal fees to your personal injury solicitor either upfront or during the claims process. This is guaranteed through a Conditional Fee Agreement, often referred to as a No Win No Fee agreement.
• Only taking payment for the legal costs and fees from your compensation in the form of a small, legally capped portion. What’s more, this only happens if your personal injury claim has been successful.
• If your claim is unsuccessful, they will not request any legal fees from you. This means you have a reduced financial risk than if you paid a personal injury lawyer by the hour.

Our advisors offer free legal advice so if you still have questions or queries about making a claim, please get in touch. They can clarify if you’re eligible to make a claim and answer questions such as “what are the different stages of a personal injury claim in the UK?”

And if they can see you’re entitled to compensation, they can connect you with our panel of experienced personal injury lawyers.

Call us using the button at the top of the page.

As well as providing help with making a claim for compensation, we also write extensively on personal injury law and any recent developments in the news.

We also conduct our own research and produce statistics on a wide range of issues that affect all of our lives. You can learn more about us and our team here.