Personal Injury Claims Explained

Sometimes, when you are injured, the accident that caused you to suffer will just be one of those things and nobody will be to blame. However, on occasion, the accident that led to your injury might have happened because of somebody else’s negligence. In those cases, if you can prove that you were owed a duty of care that was neglected causing you to suffer you could be eligible for compensation.

In this guide, we are going to show you the different types of personal injury claims that are possible. Accident claims might be possible following a road traffic accident, slips, trips and falls, accidents in a public place, accidents at work, or an accident in a shop. Essentially, if you are involved in an accident, that is caused by somebody who has a duty of care to your safety and you suffer an injury or illness, you could be entitled to compensation.

personal injury claims

Something that you might worry about is the cost of hiring a personal injury solicitor. Therefore, we’ll explain how No Win No Fee services can make the process of claiming less stressful. We will also discuss some of the most common types of personal injury claims, show you how much compensation could be paid and answer some frequently asked questions as well. Additionally, we’ll explain the child personal injury claims process as well in case you need to represent your child following a no-fault accident.

How Compensation Calculator UK Could Help You

The team at Compensation Calculator UK specialise in helping anybody who is thinking of making a personal injury claim. We will work with you to fully understand how you have been injured during a no-obligation telephone consultation. After you have explained what happened, we will offer free legal advice on the options available to you. If your case seems suitable, we could refer you to a personal injury solicitor on our panel. Any claim they agree to work on will be handled on a No Win No Fee basis.

If you would like to discuss your personal injury case with a specialist advisor, why not call our team today on 0800 408 7826? If you would rather learn more about the personal injury claim settlement process before calling, please read on.

Jump To A Section

What Is A Personal Injury Claim?
Common Types Of Personal Injury Claims
Who Could A Personal Injury Claim Be Made Against?
Personal Injury Claims Calculator
No Win No Fee Accident Claims
FAQs On The Personal Injury Claim Settlement Process
Related Services

What Is A Personal Injury Claim?

In legal terms, if you wish to pursue a personal injury claim, you will need to prove three things:

That you were owed a duty of care by the defendant (this is the person or organisation you are claiming against).
The accident happened because of the defendant’s negligence.
As a direct result of the accident, you suffered an illness or injury.

Duty of care comes from different pieces of legislation. For example, your employer owes a duty of care towards your wellbeing because of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Similarly, road users owe each other a duty of care because of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Those who control areas accessible to the public have an applied duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.

After you have proven that there is a duty of care, you’ll need to prove that negligence led to the accident. To do so, you will need to supply as much evidence as possible. To help substantiate your claim, you could take the following steps at the time of the accident if you are able to do so:

Takedown details of the other person involved if the accident was caused by an individual. This relates to injuries suffered in a road traffic accident. Getting their contact details and registration can help your case.
Photograph the accident scene. Ideally, this should be done before items are removed, especially the cause of the accident.
Ask any witnesses for their details. A personal injury solicitor may need to take a statement from them at a later date.
Visit your GP or A&E for medical assessment and treatment of your injuries.
Obtain CCTV footage or dashcam recordings if available.
Report the accident. If you are in a public place, report the incident to the operator of that place. For instance, that could be a shop owner, the local council or a business. Similarly, if you suffer an accident at work, you should report it so that it is recorded in an accident report book.

Causation in Personal Injury Claims

The last thing you will need to prove is that your injuries were sustained as a direct result of the accident. That’s why it is really important to report the accident and seek medical treatment. When an accident report is filed, it will list any injuries reported at the time. Medical records will also show the doctor’s diagnosis and what treatment you were given. Together these pieces of evidence could make it hard for the defendant to deny the injuries were caused by the accident.

All in all, proving liability for an accident during a personal injury claim can be tricky. Don’t worry though, we can help. Our team provide free legal advice and will review all aspects of your claim to help you. If your case seems viable, you could be passed to a personal injury solicitor on our panel who will represent you on a No Win No Fee basis if they accept your case. Why not call today to see whether we could help you start your claim?

Common Types Of Personal Injury Claims

As you can imagine, there is no end to the number of different personal injury claims you could make. Again, if you are injured or made ill in an accident caused by another person’s negligence in protecting your health and safety, you could be entitled to compensation. In this section, we have listed some common types of personal injury claims. They include:

Accidents abroad claim.
Accidents at work claim.
Industrial diseases.
Broken bones and fractures compensation claims.
Medical negligence.
Care home accidents claims.
Serious injuries (including life-changing injuries and fatalities).
Chronic pain diseases.
Eye injury claims.
Allergic reactions claims.
Accidents in a public place claim.
Glass lacerations claims.
Head injury claims
Bar and nightclub accidents compensation claims.
Leisure centre and gym injury cases.
Burns and scalds claims.
Road traffic accidents (including cycling accidents, motorcycle accidents, pothole accidents and pedestrian accidents).
Accidents in a shop claims.
Child injury claims.
Criminal injury and abuse.
Slips, trips and falls including (manhole cover accidents, falling down a flight of stairs and tripping on raised paving slabs).

Don’t worry if you don’t see a claim that matches your own in our list. As mentioned, it would be impossible to list everything here. Take a look at our personal injury amounts table later in this article if you would like to know how much your injury might be worth. If you believe you have a valid claim please get in touch for free legal advice. We will review your options with you and explain your next steps.

Who Could A Personal Injury Claim Be Made Against?

So, before proving negligence and causation in personal injury claims, you will need to know who to claim against. This may be an individual, a company or a local authority.

Here are some examples of who could be liable for an accident:

Your employer.
A medical or healthcare professional.
Road users.
An occupier of private or public space, such as a retailer.
A government body such as the Highways Agency.
The local authority.

Sometimes there may be a conflict over who is liable for an accident. For instance, the owner of a property might blame the occupier and vice versa. That’s one of the things a lawyer could help with. They’ll use their legal expertise to fully understand how your accident happened and who was to blame.

If you would like our help to work out who you should claim against, please speak to a specialist advisor today.

Personal Injury Claims Calculator

Now we are going to move on to look at potential compensation figures. When making a personal injury claim if the claim is successful you will be eligible for 2 Heads of Loss: general damages and special damages. We will talk more about special damages further down in this section. In the personal injury calculator table below, we have added figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The figures are for compensation known as general damages that covers pain, suffering and loss of amenity. The JCG is used by personal injury solicitors, insurers and courts when deciding on compensation awards.

Importantly, we suggest that these amounts are taken as guidance because each claim is unique. If you contact one of our advisors, they should be able to give a more personalised estimate when your case has been properly reviewed.

Compensation Table

Body Part	Severity	Compensation Guideline	Details
Multiple Serious Injuries With Special Damages	Serious	Up to £1,000,000+	A compensation award for suffering multiple serious injuries and special damages for lost earnings and medical expenses.
Brain Damage	Very Severe	£344,150 to £493,000	The higher end of this bracket is applicable to cases where the person requires full-time nursing care and shows little meaningful response to their environment.
Legs	Amputation (iii)	£127,930 to £167,760	The amputation of a single leg above the knee. Factors used include the severity of phantom pain, psychological problems and side effects such as backache.
Neck	Severe (ii)	£80,240 to £159,770	These injuries include damage to the discs of the cervical spine or serious fractures that are of considerable severity.
Hand	Total Effective Loss of One Hand	£117,360 to £133,810	This covers injuries which result in the total or effective loss of a single hand.
Arms	Injuries Resulting in A Substantial and Permanent Disablement	£47,810 to £73,050	Serious fractures of either one or both forearms. There will be a strong chance of serious permanent disability.
Back	Moderate (i)	£33,880 to £47,320	Examples in this compensation bracket include crush fractures of the lumbar vertebrae causing a large risk of osteoarthritis with constant discomfort and pain.
Ankles	Moderate	£16,770 to £32,450	These injuries, such as fractures or torn ligaments, will result in less serious disabilities. They include difficulty with walking for long periods, problems ascending stairs, irritation from metal plates and struggling to walk on uneven ground.
Knees	Moderate (i)	£18,110 to £31,960	A range of injuries are covered in this bracket including torn cartilage, dislocation or torn meniscus. The injuries will result in wasting, minor instability and weakness.
Feet	Moderate	£16,770 to £30,500	An example in this category is a displaced metatarsal fracture. It will result in continuing symptoms as well as deformity. There could also be a risk of long-term osteoarthritis.

As part of the personal injury claims settlement process, you will need to have a medical assessment. That is because general damage amounts are usually based on the severity of your injuries. Most medical appointments are held locally.

In your meeting, an independent specialist will examine your injuries. They will also discuss how you have been impacted since the accident and review any medical records available to them. Once the meeting has concluded, the specialist will detail their findings in a report which will be sent to your solicitor if you have decided to appoint one. The report will also outline your future medical prognosis as well.

As we mentioned above, you may also be eligible for special damages. These are compensation for any financial losses or expenses you have incurred because of your injuries. This could include things such as; prescription charges, loss of earnings, future loss of earnings, home adaptations, care fees and compensation for family and friends who have helped you out. Of course, this list is not exhaustive so please call our team today to see what damages you could potentially claim for.

No Win No Fee Accident Claims

You might be reading this and wondering how much it will cost to take on legal representation to help you. Well, to reduce the stress involved in claiming, we advise you choose a No Win No Fee solicitor. That means that you can benefit from an experienced legal professional with reduced financial risk.

A solicitor will have to review any claim before offering a No Win No Fee service. If your case is deemed suitable, you will be asked to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a contract that explains what the solicitor will do and what has to happen if they are to be paid. After reading the CFA, you will see that:

Payment upfront is not required to the solicitor. As a result, the claim can begin quickly.
There are no solicitor’s fees payable while your claim is continuing.
Solicitor’s fees do not have to be paid in unsuccessful cases.

Your solicitor will only be paid if they achieve a compensation payment for you. If that happens, they will receive a success fee. This is a percentage of your compensation that covers the cost of their work. You will see the success fee in the CFA, so you’ll know about it before agreeing to work with the solicitor. In law, success fees are capped to try and prevent overcharging.

Want to know if your case is suitable for a No Win No Fee service? If so, call us today and let us review your claim.

FAQs On The Personal Injury Claim Settlement Process

In this part of our guide, we are going to answer some commonly asked questions relating to personal injury claims. If your question isn’t answered here, please do get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to help you.

Am I eligible to make a personal injury claim?

For a personal injury claim to be valid, you will need to demonstrate that a) You were owed a duty of care by the defendant; b) The defendant acted negligently and caused an accident; c) You were made ill or sustained an injury as a direct result of that accident.

Will I need to meet the solicitor in person?

In most cases, there is no need for a face-to-face meeting with your solicitor during a personal injury claim. That’s because they will be able to deal with all aspects of your claim over the phone, email, video conference or in writing. As a result, you can choose a law firm based anywhere to help you claim.

What information does my solicitor need?

Evidence is a key part of proving any compensation claim. It needs to show what happened, how you were injured and who was responsible. Evidence that could be used to support a personal injury claim includes photographs, witness details, accident logs, CCTV, dashcam footage and medical records. Also, police reports could be used if they attended the scene of your accident.

How long do I have to claim for my injury?

The personal injury claims time limit is generally 3-years from the date of your accident or the date you became knowledgeable. There are exceptions, however. If extreme circumstances prevent you from claiming, the time limit might be extended in some cases.

How long does a personal injury claim take?

There are a number of factors that determine how long personal injury claims take to be settled. They include the type of injuries you’ve sustained, how the accident occurred, how long medical evidence takes to be gathered, whether you can identify the defendant and if the defendant admits liability. Once liability has been admitted, road accident claims could take between 4 to 9-months, public accident claims up to 9-months and work accident claims between 6 and 9-months.

What can I claim for?

As well as using a personal injury claims calculator to work out how much might be paid for the pain caused by your injuries, you could also claim special damages. This is compensation that aims to compensate for any costs incurred as a result of your accident. For example, you could claim for lost wages, travel costs, medical expenses, care costs and adaptations to your home or vehicle if you are left disabled. Furthermore, you may be entitled to claim for future lost income for long term injuries.

How to claim on behalf of a child

As a child cannot represent themselves legally, a parent or responsible adult could become their litigation friend. This involves dealing with solicitors and courts on the child’s behalf. If a settlement is reached, the court will validate the amount is fair and place it in a trust fund. You can claim on behalf of your child at any time before they become 18-years old. If you haven’t claimed by then, the claimant will have a 3-year time limit that will end on their 21^st birthday.

How to claim after a fatal accident

It is sometimes possible to claim compensation for somebody who has died as a result of an accident caused by negligence. In addition to the payment to cover the fatality, a claim might be possible for anybody who was dependent on the deceased’s income. This can include children, partners and siblings.

Hopefully, these FAQs have helped you understand when you can make personal injury claims. Please connect with us by calling 0800 408 7826. Alternatively, please complete our enquiry form and we’ll get back to you. Again, we provide free legal advice about the claims process and will review any case on a no-obligation basis.

Related Services

In our final section, we have provided some links that may be useful during the claims process. If you would like us to provide any additional information, please get in touch with our team today.

NHS 111 – The online service where you can check whether your symptoms need urgent medical attention.

The Health And Safety Executive – The HSE are responsible for enforcing health and safety laws in Great Britain.

The Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents – A charity that aims to make life free from serious accidental injuries.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority – This government scheme pays compensation to those injured in violent crimes.

Motor Insurers’ Bureau – A scheme that could compensate you if you’re injured becuase of negligence by an uninsured driver.

Broken Ankle Personal Injury Claims – Find out more about these cases in this guide.

Broken Tooth Personal Injury Claims – Find out more about these cases in this guide.

We also have some other guides that you may find useful:

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