Child Injury Compensation Calculator

As we’ve already mentioned, a child injury compensation calculator can help by giving you a broad idea of where your child’s potential compensation settlement could fall. However, these amounts aren’t guaranteed.

A child injury compensation settlement can contain up to two heads. The first head, general damages, covers the pain and suffering they endure because of their accident and injuries. Often, general damages is calculated with help from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which contains guideline figures.

You can find some of these guidelines below, but please note that these are not guaranteed, and that the first entry in this table is not from the JCG.

Injury	Compensation	Notes
Multiple Severe Injuries + Special Damages	Up to £550,000+	Multiple severe injuries combined with financial losses, like the cost of a wheelchair or lost earnings
Very Severe Brain Damage	£344,150 to £493,000	They may be able to follow some basic commands, but there is little to no response to surrounding environmental factors and a need for full time care.
Moderately Severe Brain Damage	£267,340 to £344,150	They are very seriously disabled, and need round-the-clock professional nursing care.
Less Severe Arm Injury	£23,430 to £47,810	There may be serious degrees of disability, but a substantial recovery takes place.
Simple Fractures of the Forearm	£8,060 to £23,430	Simple forearm fractures.
Severe Back Injuries (iii)	£47,320 to £85,100	Disc lesions, fractures, and soft tissue injuries that lead to chronic conditions.
Moderate Back Injuries (i)	£33,880 to £47,320	A wide range of injuries fall under this bracket, but all will result in less serious disability than the entry above.
Fractures From Which an Incomplete Recovery is Made or Serious Soft Tissue Injuries	£21,920 to £33,880	The injured party will recover, but with the aid of a metal implant or being left with a limp.
Simple Fracture of a Femur With No Damage to Articular Surfaces	£11,120 to £17,180	Simple femur fractures.

The second heading is called special damages. This helps you to recoup any financial losses you have endured because of your child’s injuries. For example, if you had to take time off work to look after them and this caused you to lose earnings, these could be recouped under special damages.

Special damages can also help you cover the cost of:

Prescriptions.
Mobility aids, like a wheelchair or crutches.
Home adjustments, like the installation of a stairlift or widening doorways to allow a wheelchair through.
Counselling.
Physiotherapy.
Private medical treatment.
Travel.
Childcare.

When you claim under this heading, you need to prove your losses. You can do this with bank statements, invoices, and receipts.

What Happens To Compensation For Children?

If you make a successful compensation claim on behalf of your child, the Court Funds Office (CFO) will hold their compensation in trust until they turn 18. In the weeks and months leading up to their 18th birthday, the CFO will contact them with instructions on how to access their compensation.

In some cases, you could potentially withdraw money from their CFO account. However, you will need to write to the Court and prove that this withdrawal is in the child’s best interests. For example, the money may be needed to cover medical treatment. If you cannot prove that it is in the child’s best interests, you will not be able to make a withdrawal.

Contact our team today to find out if you could make a child injury claim on behalf of your child, or read on to learn more.

What Is A Child Injury?

Children can suffer various injuries in different accidents. Some examples of accidents involving children might include:

Burns and scalds
Fractures
Poisoning
Falls from height

A child injury might cause serious implications to the child. For instance, if they break their leg, then this could cause them severe pain. While the leg is in a cast, they may be unable to participate in sports or play in the way they usually do.

Furthermore, child injuries can cause long-term implications. For instance, a birth injury could cause a child to experience life-long brain damage that permanently impacts their quality of life.

Children under the age of 18 are not legally able to represent themselves in a claim. But this does not mean that they are not able to receive compensation.

If a child under the age of 18 suffered an injury, you could claim on their behalf by acting as a litigation friend. You would have until they’re 18 to do so. After your child turns 18, they would then have 3 years to start a claim for themselves from the date of their 18th birthday.

However, there are exceptions to these rules, so if you have any questions, you can call our team. They’ll be happy to offer you further help and advice on the limitation period for a child personal injury claim.

What Expenses And Damages Could I Claim Compensation For?

The compensation your child could be awarded may be made up of two different heads of claim. These are referred to as general and special damages. General damages cover your physical and psychological suffering as well as the impact the injury has had on your quality of life. Our compensation payout calculator will give you an estimate for these.

Special damages may also be awarded to cover past and future financial losses or expenses. For example:

Loss of earnings for the time that parents or carers have taken off work
Cost of care
Medical expenses, e.g. medication or treatment like physiotherapy that you cannot get elsewhere
Travel expenses to and from medical appointments

Evidence is important in building a valid claim to ensure you are awarded the compensation you deserve. For general damages, you may need:

CCTV footage
Pictures of the thing that caused the accident, e.g. broken playground equipment
Police reports, if applicable
Records of the accident in a school accident book
Medical reports to show the injuries your child sustained

Additional evidence will be required for any special damages you may claim. For example, receipts, payslips and invoices.

How long does it take to receive an offer of compensation?

Each claim can vary in time, and the final compensation offer you may receive will depend on whether both parties can agree on the settlement amount. If an agreement can’t be made, further negotiations may be required.

Causes Of Child Accidents And Injuries

There are many causes of child accidents, and a number of injuries can be sustained as a result. However, we have provided examples of some possible accident circumstances to help you understand when you may be eligible to claim.

If you’re still unsure, you can contact our team, and they can assess whether you have a valid child injury claim. If you do, they may be able to connect you with one of our solicitors to start work on your claim right away.

Road Traffic Accidents

Road traffic accidents can affect people of all ages, and there isn’t one overarching cause. However, some specific examples of how a child could be injured in a road traffic accident might include:

A child suffering a broken tooth after a car knocked into them at a pedestrian crossing, such as a toucan or pelican crossing
Drivers speeding in an area with lots of schools around and knocking a child over as they cross the road. This could cause serious, life-changing injuries such as brain damage.
A motorcyclist, who didn’t pay attention to the road, caused a child to suffer severe soft tissue injuries by crashing into a car in which they were a passenger.

You might be able to claim compensation for injuries your child sustained in a car accident even if the driver of the car they were travelling in was at fault. Speak to a member of our team today to find out more about claiming.

Accidents In A Children’s Playground

There are approximately 40,000 injuries to children on playgrounds each year, which lead to a visit to the hospital. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) suggested that common causes of a playground accident include:

Poor quality equipment being installed
Playground equipment not being inspected or maintained
Unsuitable equipment for the intended age group being provided or installed, for example, a very large climbing frame in a nursery school playground

The responsibility of keeping public playgrounds safe for children will usually fall to the local council under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. This states that those in control of public spaces have a duty to keep those spaces safe for members of the public to use.

If the accident occurred on a school playground, you might still be able to claim for your child’s injuries. The school also has a duty of care to regularly check that equipment isn’t faulty or defective and to provide adequate supervision to reduce the risk of injury.

Accidents At Nursery Or School

Although accidents involving children may occur even when no duty of care breach has occurred, teachers and other members of staff at the school still have a duty of care to keep your child safe.

If they fail to do so, accidents resulting in injuries could occur. This might include:

Burns and scalds from hot taps that have no warnings on them
Poor maintenance of school grounds, e.g. fallen fences or trees that aren’t repaired
A child suffering an allergic reaction to peanuts resulting from cross-contamination in the school kitchen, despite this allergy

The Occupiers’ Liability Act states that the controller of a public space should be prepared for children to be less safety-conscious than adults. They should take this into account when ensuring the safety of the premises.

Slips, Trips And Falls In A Public Place

Slips and trips account for half of all reported injuries to members of the public in workplaces that allow public access. This includes places like shops, restaurants and hospitals.

For instance, you might be out shopping with your child, and someone has failed to put a wet floor sign down where there was a spill. As a result, your child could slip and break their ankle.

A head injury could occur if there was a loose floor tile in the restaurant you were eating at. This could cause your child to trip over and hit their head on the corner of a table.

Paediatric And Child Medical Negligence

Medical and health care professionals have a duty of care to provide an appropriate level of care. If they don’t, this could inflict an unnecessary injury that could have been avoided. Breaching this duty of care is an example of medical negligence.

For instance:

Misdiagnosis of any condition leading to worsening symptoms
Prescribing the wrong medication
Giving a child an adult dose of medication

It’s important to note that just because your child has been harmed or their condition worsened in the course of receiving medical care doesn’t mean that medical negligence occurred. For example, sometimes your doctor might misdiagnose your child’s condition despite doing all they could to correctly diagnose the condition. This would not be an example of medical negligence, even if their condition worsened as a result.

Additionally, sometimes a medical professional needs to cause additional harm in the course of treating your child. For instance, if they needed an emergency operation, then the surgeon would need to cause injury in the form of an entrance wound. This would be part of an acceptable standard of care, and you would not be able to claim.

Birth Injuries And Trauma

As mentioned above, medical professionals have a responsibility to keep your child safe. This includes ensuring your baby is delivered safely in childbirth. Examples of conditions that could result from medical negligence during childbirth include:

Cerebral Palsy
Brain injuries
Erb’s palsy
Brachial plexus injuries
Stillbirth

You could claim compensation for any birth injuries to your child that happened because the doctor or midwife breached their duty of care towards you and your child. For further information on medical negligence claims, contact our team.

No Win No Fee Child Injury Compensation Claim Agreements

Having a solicitor represent you can help the process of claiming run more smoothly and could maximise the amount of compensation you receive. However, having a solicitor act on your behalf could mean that you have to pay upfront or ongoing legal fees.

Our advisors can connect you with a personal injury solicitor who could represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. This means that if they are unsuccessful with your claim, you won’t pay solicitor fees. You also won’t pay any upfront or ongoing fees to them.

If they are successful, you’ll pay a success fee. However, this is legally capped, and you can agree upon the fee with your solicitor before your claim begins.

If you would like to know more about No Win No Fee agreements, speak to a member of our team today. You could be connected with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.

Get Advice About How To Claim

We understand how daunting the process of claiming compensation on behalf of your child might seem. However, we’re here to help. Our advisors are available to provide you with free legal advice 24/7.

Furthermore, if you’re ready to start your claim, our team can connect you with a personal injury solicitor who can help take you through the next steps of your claim.

For more information, contact our team by:

Calling on 0800 408 7826
Chatting with us on live chat at the bottom of the page
Sending us an enquiry and specifying a time for us to contact you

Resources And Case Studies

For further information on whether you’re eligible to act as a litigation friend, see the government website for further advice.

The NHS website provides information on children’s health.

For further information on keeping children safe, see the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Other Personal Injury Claims Guides You Can Read

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