Personal Injury Claims UK: THE COMPENSATION EXPERTS
The UK’s Personal Injury Compensation Experts. Click below to check your eligibility today
- Get The Personal Injury Compensation Payout You Deserve
- 100% No Win No Fee
Did You Know…
An elbow injury that causes severe pain and impairment of the joint could receive between
£39,170 and £54,830
To begin a personal injury claim today, call us on 020 8050 2736
START YOUR CLAIMWhat Is A Personal Injury Claim?
Let’s start by taking a look at the definition of a personal injury claim.
In simple terms, it’s a form of legal action you can take if you’ve suffered an injury or illness because of someone else. In many cases, personal injury claims in the UK can be made with the help of a No Win No Fee agreement. We explain this in greater depth below, but in short, it means you don’t pay anything upfront and pay nothing if the case doesn’t succeed.
Compensation is often paid out by the insurance company of the defendant too, especially in cases involving workplace accidents and car accidents.
How Can Personal Injury Claims UK Help You?
As you browse through our legal guides, you’ll be able to see if you could potentially use a No Win No Fee solicitor to pursue personal injury compensation.
And if you’d like to make a claim, we can connect you with specialist personal injury solicitors from our panel who can get to work on your case right away.
Our site will also answer important questions, such as:
- What falls under personal injury?
- What does a personal injury claim cover?
- How do personal injury claims work?
- Examples of personal injury compensation cases
- How does No Win No Fee work?
If you prefer, you can speak with us for free advice. We’re available 24/7 via telephone and live chat, and you won’t be under any obligation to proceed with the services of our panel of lawyers.
Am I Eligible To Make A Personal Injury Claim?
Being able to make a successful personal injury claim revolves around negligence. Certain third parties have a duty of care to you and, if you injure yourself due to them breaching this duty of care, you may be able to claim due to negligence. There are three requirements to prove negligence. They are:
- That the third party has a duty of care to you.
- That you have evidence showing that the third party breached their duty of care.
- And it’s this breach that led to your injury.
What Is The Personal Injury Claims Time Limit?
There are several other factors to consider if you’re looking to make a No Win No Fee personal injury claim.
- There is a personal injury claims time limit. You generally need to make a claim either three years from the date of the incident or three years from the date you became aware of negligence at least contributing to the injury. This is outlined in the Limitation Act 1980.
- Someone under the age of eighteen or someone who does not have the capacity to make a claim can still potentially have one made on their behalf. In these instances, someone would need to be named their litigation friend so they can claim on the injured person’s behalf.
You can also make fatal accident claims if your loved one has passed away due to an accident they weren’t liable for. Legal experts, such as No Win No Fee lawyers, could help you with this.
Learn More About Personal Injury Claims
An Overview Of Personal Injury Claims In The UK
Personal injury claims in the UK may seem quite complex. There are technical words and phrases, evidence to gather, and the matter of presenting your case to the defendant or their insurance company.
To do this on your own can be daunting, especially if you have no legal background.
Help is on hand, however. Many personal injury solicitors, including ourselves, offer clients the ability to pursue a claim on a No Win No Fee basis. We discuss this further below, but in short, it allows you to recover compensation for a personal injury without having to pay fees unless the case is successful.
You can therefore access vital legal support in a financially sustainable way.
A No Win No Fee solicitor can assess your claim, gather evidence, present your case to the defendant, and negotiate a settlement on your behalf.
This could give you a better chance of getting compensated not just for your injuries and the inconvenience they’ve caused, but for any associated financial losses. This may include loss of earnings, loss of a work bonus, or costs relating to medication and healthcare.
In the sections that follow, we’ll explore making a personal injury claim in more detail. This includes a look at eligibility criteria, the different types of injury claims that exist, and potential compensation awards. Also in this guide is more info on the advantages of hiring No Win No Fee solicitors for personal injury claims in the UK and how we can help provide such a service.
How Can I Prove My Personal Injury Claim?
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.
Terence Is One Of Our Directors
Customer service is the foundation of everything we do here at PersonalInjuryClaimsUK.org.uk. We know how it feels to suffer an injury through no fault of your own. So from the moment you get in touch, you’ll be treated with professionalism, compassion and respect.
Road Traffic Accidents
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.
Accidents At Work
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.
Accidents In Public Places
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.
How Are Personal Injury Compensation Claims In The UK Valued?
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 after your accident to recover from your injury, your employer may not have paid you.
There’s no legal obligation for them to pay you. It depends on your contract of employment, so it’s best to check this first to see what you’re entitled to.
At the least, you’ll receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), but this may be a lot less than your monthly salary.
However, as part of a personal injury claim, you can claim back your loss of earnings. In order to do so, you should keep hold of your bank statements from before the accident and those after the accident. This will show the difference in pay.
If you lost out on any work-related bonuses, keep a note of these too and you can include them too.
To learn more about recovering lost earnings in accident claims, please get in touch.
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.
What Else Can Personal Injury Compensation Cover?
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.
Connect With No Win No Fee Personal Injury Solicitors
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.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Long Do Personal Injury Claims Take?
There’s no definitive time for the resolution of personal injury claims. However, if the defendant admits liability and your injuries heal quickly, the claim could resolve in around 12 months.
Do You Have To Go To Court For A Personal Injury Claim?
There is a very good chance that you won’t have to go to court for your personal injury claim. The industry average for cases reaching court is around 5%. That means around 95% of claims are either settled or abandoned due to a lack of good prospects of success.
Even if you do have to go to court, there’s nothing to worry about, though we do appreciate that the experience can be daunting. We work with some of the most experienced solicitors around and attending court is part of their usual routine. You’ll be in good hands as a result.
How Long Does It Take To Receive An Offer Of Compensation?
The length of time it takes to receive an offer of compensation in a personal injury claim can vary depending on the case. If your injuries heal quickly and the defendant does not dispute liability, an offer could be made within a few months.
This offer is usually made once your solicitor has obtained expert medical evidence. At this point, you can calculate the value of your claim so you know how much to ask for. Presenting this medical report to the defendant usually prompts them to make an offer.
Sometimes an offer of compensation could come later on, especially if the defendant is still investigating the case, you’re still recovering from your injuries, or if the defendant disputes liability.
Could I Get An Interim Payment?
In some cases, it’s possible to claim an interim payment. This is a payment of a percentage of your compensation before your case has settled. The idea is to release the money to you early if you’re experiencing difficulty paying bills, especially if you’re unable to work.
An interim payment is often suitable in cases of serious injury where your source of income is effectively stopped.
Does Personal Injury Compensation Get Taxed?
No, personal injury compensation is not subject to tax from the HMRC. This means that other than the deduction to cover your solicitors’ fees, you won’t have to pay any fees to other organisations.
Will My Personal Injury Claim Affect Any Benefits I Receive?
No, your personal injury claim will not affect the benefits you receive. The only impact a personal injury claim could have on benefits is if you receive payments because of your injury. A government body known as the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) will keep track of how much is paid to you, with the condition being that you have to pay this back when you receive your compensation award.
In some cases, you may be able to claim other benefits because of your injuries. The industrial injuries disablement benefit is one example. This will see you receive money to help you get by while you recover.
Customer Stories
When Michael was knocked off his bicycle, we helped him find solicitors specialising in road traffic accidents.
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t work because of my injuries and my bike was broken after the accident. I decided to get some advice from PersonalInjuryClaimsUK.org.uk and never regretted it.
Michael, Client
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