A Complete Guide To Average Public Liability Claims Payouts

Public liability claims payouts can vary significantly, as awards are based on various considerations. For example, compensation in your particular public liability claim might consider the severity of your dislocated shoulder and head trauma, how the injury has affected your quality of life, and what financial impact it has had. Our payouts guide will provide further details on how compensation is calculated for accidents on high streets, parks, restaurants, leisure centres, and other public spaces.

Key Takeaways

• Parties in control of public spaces have a responsibility to keep visitors reasonably safe and are referred to as ‘occupiers.’
• Public accidents are often caused by slips, trips, falls, and faulty equipment.
• Fractures, brain damage, dislocations, and burns can all result in successful public liability claims payouts.
• Payouts can compensate individuals for their pain, suffering, and financial loss.
• Compensation may be paid out via public liability insurance if the occupier has a policy.

Our advisors are waiting, so please get in touch for more information on compensation payouts or to get started with your own public liability injury claim:

• Phone 0161 509 2856.
• Click to contact us.
• Talk to us online.

Jump To A Section

• What Are The Average Public Liability Claims Payouts?
• How Will The Final Public Liability Payout Amount Be Calculated?
• Who Is Responsible For Paying Public Liability Compensation?
• What Public Liability Accidents Can Compensation Be Claimed For?
• How To Support A Claim For A Public Liability Payout
• Public Liability Payouts With Our No Win No Fee Solicitors
• More Information

What Are The Average Public Liability Claims Payouts?

Average public liability claims payouts consider a range of factors, including the severity of an injury, how it affects day-to-day life, and whether there are associated financial losses. Compensation payouts can consist of 2 types of damages:

• General damages covers your pain and suffering.
• Special damages can be awarded if an injury has a financial impact.

Payouts for general damages may be informed by the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), as this text matches suggested compensation brackets with different injuries.

All but the top bullet point in the following list comes from the JCG. These brackets are not a guarantee of public liability compensation:

• Multiple, very severe forms of injury, together with special damages – Financial loss might include medical bills and the cost of physiotherapy – up to £1,000,000+.
• Very severe brain damage – the person may still have a sleep and waking pattern and may respond to basic instructions – £344,150 to £493,000.
• Moderate brain damage – cases where, due to an intellectual deficit, the person’s ability to work is significantly reduced – £110,720 to £183,190.
• Severe back injuries – chronic conditions due to disc fractures or lesions – £47,320 to £85,100.
• Severe neck injuries – severe injuries causing dislocations and fractures – £55,500 to £68,330.
• Severe shoulder injury – which may also involve neck injuries – £23,430 to £58,610.
• Serious leg injury – incomplete recovery from a leg fracture – £21,920 to £33,880.
• Moderate knee injury – torn meniscus, cartilage or dislocations – £18,110 to £31,960.
• Modest ankle injury – minor or otherwise less serious forms of fracture – up to £16,770.
• Minor achilles tendon injury – a turned ankle which causes some tendon damage – £8,870 to £15,370.

For a more tailored discussion of public liability claims payouts, please get in touch today.

How Will The Final Public Liability Payout Amount Be Calculated?

The final public liability payout amount may be calculated by combining the value of general damages and any financial loss stemming from your injuries. You will need financial documents, such as invoices, receipts and bank statements, to claim for any financial impact.

Compensation For Lost Earnings

If you seek compensation for lost earnings, you may receive a payout for wages, pension contributions, overtime entitlement, and other benefits. You may be compensated for past and (estimated) future losses if, for example, you are no longer able to return to your previous role or cannot continue working.

Self-assessment records, payslips, statements from employers, and bank statements may be used to show qualifying losses.

Cost Of Care

The cost of care may include any support you’ve received during your recovery or over the long term. It can cover out-of-pocket expenses related to professional assistance in your home or a care facility, as well as help from loved ones.

Invoices from care providers or a loved one’s financial records may show what care was provided, whilst medical records may also be beneficial as evidence.

Medical Expenses

Depending on the severity of an injury, medical expenses can be significant. These expenses could include the cost of private treatment, surgeries, or consultations, as well as any medications.

Your patient files, invoices, and receipts may all serve to prove the medical expenses you faced and show why they were necessary.

Rehabilitation And Recovery Compensation

You may be able to claim for rehabilitation and recovery compensation if you needed to pay for physical or psychological therapy services. This could include counselling, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, or other specialist treatments.

As with medical expenses, your patient records and financial documents will be valuable evidence for your claim.

Cost Of Home Or Car Adaptations

Compensation for the cost of home or car adaptations can reflect the financial impact of making accessibility improvements to your property. For example, you may have had to install stairlifts, ramps or handrails throughout your home to help support your independence and accommodate a disability.

Quotes or invoices for works carried out can help prove the cost of any accessibility adaptations.

Travel Expenses

Compensation for travel expenses could include the cost of getting to and from medical, care, therapy, or rehabilitation appointments. Tickets, bank statements, or receipts may help you to prove these costs.

If you would like to know more about how personal injury compensation may be calculated, please message our advisors at a time that’s convenient for you.

Who Is Responsible For Paying Public Liability Compensation?

Responsibility for paying public liability compensation lies with the party whose negligent actions led to the accident and injury. Such parties may include local authorities, businesses, or private landowners.

The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 (OLA) places a duty of care on those in control of public spaces. In line with this, occupiers must use practical measures to keep members of the public reasonably safe. Occupiers would be in breach of this duty if they fail to take such measures, and would therefore be liable for any resulting injuries.

In most cases, the occupier will have public liability insurance to protect them from the financial impact of a compensation claim. This means that their insurer would be responsible for paying out compensation in a successful claim. Whilst they are not always legally required, such policies are standard (and even compulsory) in many industries.

Our advisors could help you determine who may be liable for your injuries and make a successful compensation claim.

What Public Liability Accidents Can Compensation Be Claimed For?

Compensation can be claimed for many public liability accidents, including those that happen in retail spaces, high streets, restaurants, and pubs. These accidents can have many causes, ranging from slips and trips to inadequate lighting in bar bathrooms.

The following examples show some scenarios that might result in public liability claims payouts:

• A faulty door leaves you with crushed fingers when it malfunctions. Shop management had been aware that it posed a hazard, but had repeatedly delayed repairs.
• You break your wrist after falling in the street due to a poorly maintained manhole cover giving way under you. The local authority had been informed about the dangers, but had decided against making reports or cordoning off the manhole.
• Loose tiles at the entrance to a leisure centre swimming pool cause you to trip on the broken flooring. This leaves you with a serious head injury and long-term balance issues.

If you’d like to share your personal experience, please reach out to our 24/7 team of advisors for a free, no-obligation consultation.

How To Support A Claim For A Public Liability Payout

To support a claim for a public liability payout, you need to collect a strong body of evidence and ensure you start seeking compensation within 3 years of your accident. Evidence is particularly important, as it will establish how an occupier breached their duty of care to you and directly caused your injuries.

Evidence which could strengthen your case,

• Reports, such as those recorded in the premises accident log.
• Photographs of the accident and/or injuries, together with any CCTV footage.
• Witness contact details, so that a solicitor can take statements for the claim.
• Correspondence with the occupier.

Time Limits

As mentioned, you must start claiming within 3 years of your accident. However, the 3-year time limit for filing a public liability claim doesn’t apply to those who are under 18 or lacking mental capacity, as neither can claim on their own. That means someone from either group will need a litigation friend to help them pursue compensation for as long as time limits are on hold.

If no litigation friend is used, then the 3-year time limit will only take effect if someone turns 18 or regains their mental capacity (dated to the point of recovery). You can find out more about time limits by reaching out to our advisors. They can also explain how our solicitors can help their clients collect the evidence needed to secure public liability claims payouts.

Public Liability Payouts With Our No Win No Fee Solicitors

Our No Win No Fee solicitors have helped secure public liability payouts in claims across the country. One of them could support you next on the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement, ensuring you get access to a high-quality, personalised service without the worry of facing rising service fees. This approach means you won’t be charged any solicitor fees in advance, while the claim is ongoing, or if you don’t win.

You’ll only pay a success fee to your solicitor if they secure compensation. This is taken as a percentage of the compensation, but you’ll keep the bulk of it, as it’s limited by legislation.

Here at Advice, our solicitors believe that every client and case matters, and this commitment is always evident in the claims they take on. If you decide to work with one of them, they will draw on their wealth of expertise and decades of combined experience to help:

• Organise an independent medical assessment to strengthen your claim.
• Collect and assess evidence for your claim.
• Arrange access to rehabilitation services as part of an individualised care plan.
• Explain legal jargon, documents, and the claims process.
• Negotiate a fair settlement that fully reflects how you have been impacted.

Contact Our Advisors

If you’re ready to get started with your public liability claim, please contact our advisors via one of the options below:

• Call 0161 509 2856.
• Talk to us online below.
• Click to contact us with details of your case.

More Information

You can find out more information about public liability claims and how they are calculated in these guides:

• Find out what evidence could help prove a slip and fall case.
• Check what to do after an accident in a public place.
• Check if you could claim for a swimming pool accident.

References:

• View this fall prevention resource from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
• Read about Statutory Sick Pay in this government resource.
• View this guide to first aid from the NHS.

Please contact us to learn more about public liability claims payouts.