Care Home Death Negligence – No Win No Fee Claims

By Stephen Kane. Last Updated 13th June 2023. If a family member has died while staying or working in a care home, you may be entitled to claim compensation if the care home breached their duty of care, and this caused or contributed to the fatality.

In this guide, we’ll explain the criteria for starting fatal injury claims for care home negligence cases. This includes an explanation of who exactly could be eligible to make a claim on behalf of someone who has died because a care home breached their duty of care.

This guide also features some potential compensation payouts for fatal care home negligence claims, and how these are calculated. We’ll also talk about different circumstances that may lead to a claim and how a No Win No Fee solicitor may be able to help you with your case.

To learn more about care home claims, you can contact our team of friendly advisors today. They’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to address your questions and provide free advice. To get in touch, you can:

Care home death negligence compensation claims

Care home death negligence compensation claims

Select A Section

  1. Care Home Death Negligence Compensation Calculator
  2. Types Of Compensation Awarded For A Death In A Care Home
  3. What Is Care Home Death Negligence?
  4. Who Could Claim For Fatal Care Home Compensation?
  5. What Are Wrongful Care Home Death Claims?
  6. Deaths Caused By A Failure To Meet A Primary Healthcare Need
  7. Fatal Trips And Falls In Care Homes
  8. Compensation Claims Against Private Care Homes
  9. No Win No Fee Care Home Death Negligence Claims
  10. More Information

Care Home Death Negligence Compensation Calculator

Many use a personal injury claims calculator to tell you how much they could claim for a death in a care home. Care home negligence cases are all different. Compensation would depend on the type of death, the injury the person had suffered, and the other specific facts and circumstances surrounding the care home negligence death. That is why we prefer claimants to call up our advisors for a more accurate estimation.

In the table below we have used figures from the Judicial College Guidelines. This publication could be used by solicitors as well as the courts to come to an appropriate settlement for a claimant’s injuries. The figures can be used in any personal injury claim or medical negligence claim. They are not just for care home injuries. Also, they are only guidelines. If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to call us and we will give you some guidance over the phone about this.

Type of death injuryApproximate compensation bracketRemarks
Death Full Awareness£11,770 to £22,350 Where severe lung damage or burns occurs where there are fluctuating levels of consciousness for around 4-5 weeks, with invasive treatment and significant injuries – death would occur from 2 weeks – 3 months
Death after 6 weeks£3,530 to £4,120 Where unconsciousness is immediate
Death after 1 week£1,290 to £2,620 Where unconsciousness is immediate
Followed by unconsciousness£9,870 to £10,010 Excruciating levels of pain followed by unconsciousness after 3 hours. Death would come around 2 weeks later.
Mental Anguish£4,380 Where there was a fear of impending death

Types Of Compensation Awarded For A Death In A Care Home

When making a claim because a loved one has died due to negligent circumstances the claim can include compensation for their suffering. However, it can also include compensation for those that were dependant on the deceased. Compensation known as general damages can be awarded in a successful claim for the pain and suffering the claimant suffered as a result of the negligence.

Also, in a successful compensation claim, funeral expenses may also be awarded to cover the costs of the expenses. This can be known as the special damages part of a compensation claim. Generally, dependants such as children and partners of the deceased or parents can claim for any suffering they experienced as well as compensation if they depended on the deceased financially.

What Is Care Home Death Negligence?

If you have lost a loved one, either as a patient in a care home or someone working there that has had a fatal accident, you may be wondering whether the person’s death could have been prevented if the care home had not been negligent. There are several ways in which negligence could occur in a care home, including:

  • Care home medical negligence – if your loved one has not been looked after properly in a care home, and a medical condition has worsened due to negligent medical treatment, this could cause a care home death. We should mention that not all deterioration of health could be considered negligence.
  • Elder abuse – if your loved one has been the victim of care home abuse, this may have caused them physical harm, which may have caused their death.
  • Neglect in a care home resulting in death – Advice for spotting care home neglect in the UK can be found on the NICE website.
  • Negligence towards health and safety at work – If a care home does not take all reasonable steps to protect its workers from risk of harm at work, and a fatal accident at work occurs, they could be held liable.

Who Could Claim For Fatal Care Home Compensation?

When it comes to claiming for negligence in a care home that causes a care home death, there are several types of people who could launch a claim. These include:

  • The deceased person’s dependents – those who depend on the deceased for financial provision
  • The immediate family of the deceased person – those who have not been financially dependent on the deceased person but have suffered hardship due to the care home death
  • The estate of the deceased person – this could include a small business that depended on the deceased for income, for example.

If you’re unsure as to whether you could make a claim for a loved one who has passed away because of nursing home care negligence, please call our team. We’d be happy to assess your case for free to see if you could launch a claim.

What Are Wrongful Care Home Death Claims?

A wrongful care home death claim could be brought against those who have not treated a care home resident in a safe and effective manner.

There are standards of care that require care home staff to:

  • Act in the best interests of others
  • Not act/fail to act that results in harm being caused to someone
  • Act within their competence, and not take on something they do not believe they can do safely

This is their duty of care towards a patient. A breach of this duty of care that causes harm, in this case, a care home death, could be considered care home or nursing home negligence.

We should also mention that there are other types of negligence that could cause a care home death. Negligence in providing a safe place to work could result in wrongful death of a care home employee.

Deaths Caused By A Failure To Meet A Primary Healthcare Need

There are certain types of primary healthcare need that you would expect to be met when a loved one is receiving care in a care home.  These could be different depending on the needs of the patient and the care home they’re in. Primary care services could include:

  • Providing nutrition
  • Good hygiene care
  • Basic emergency services
  • Referrals to other levels of care
  • Primary mental health care
  • Palliative and end-of-life care

If you are unsure whether a claim for compensation could be brought after a loved one had passed away due to care home negligence call our advisors for free advice. They will assess your case for you in a no-obligation chat.

Fatal Trips And Falls In Care Homes

A slip, trip or fall, on the face of it, does not sound like it could cause a care home death. But the injuries would largely depend on how the accident happened, how bad it was and whether it was a fall from height or on the same level. A slip, trip or fall, if it was serious enough, could cause a fatal injury. There are several people in a care home that could have such an accident, such as:

  • A care home resident – if a care home resident has trouble with mobility, they may need assistance to move around. If they are not assisted, they could be at a higher risk of falls and could suffer a fatal injury as a result.
  • A care home worker – a care home worker has rights under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to have their health and safety protected while they are at work. If the care home doesn’t provide a safe place to work or doesn’t give a worker the right training to do their job safely, for example, this could lead to them being injured at work. Depending on the nature and severity of the injury, the person could pass away as the result of such an injury.
  • A care home visitor – The care home also has a legal responsibility to provide a safe environment for all those that use their premises, under the Occupier’s Liability Act 1957. If the environment they allow people into is unsafe, and an accident results from this, they could be held liable for this.

Compensation Claims Against Private Care Homes

If a loved one has been the victim of a negligent care home death in a private nursing home, you might be wondering whether this would affect your claim. If you’re considering suing a care company for neglect in the UK, or for negligence, the process would be largely the same as the CQC regulates both private and NHS care homes. As well as this, they would have the same responsibilities to their workers insofar as health and safety is concerned. So employee death claims would be largely the same.

Whether you’re making a claim for a care home death as a result of elder abuse, or because you’ve lost a loved one to negligence or a fatal accident at work, a solicitor could help make the process of claiming easier and less stressful for you.

No Win No Fee Care Home Death Negligence Claims

If you’re considering making a compensation claim for a death in a care home, whether it involves elder abuse, care home mistreatment, or an accident at work, a solicitor that works on a No Win No Fee basis could help you without you having to pay them upfront. With a No Win No Fee care home death claim, the process would work as follows:

  1. You would receive a Conditional Fee Agreement, sent to you by your personal injury solicitor. They would ask you to sign and return this before they went ahead with your claim. The agreement would give you details of the success fee that you would pay the solicitor once they’d secured compensation. The fee is capped, legally, and is usually representative of a small percentage of your payout.
  2. Once the signed No Win No Fee agreement had been received back by your personal injury solicitor, they would be able to begin work on building the wrongful death case against the care home.
  3. Once your care home negligence compensation had been arranged, the success fee would be deducted from it; with the rest for your benefit.

If your claim is not successful and doesn’t end with a compensation payout, you would not have to pay your solicitor any fees.

We recognise that you might have some questions about care home negligence solicitors and No Win No Fee claims. You can give us a call with your questions if you wish. To get in touch with our team, simply:

  • Call us on 0161 696 9685
  • Use the contact form for your query, and we’ll get back to you
  • Or use our live chat feature to talk to the team

More Information

Care Home Negligence – This guide covers negligence in a care home, including the personal injury claims time limit that could apply to such claims.

Fatal Accidents At Work – If a care home death was caused by an accident at work, this guide could be useful.

Reporting Elder Abuse In The UK – The government resource could be useful. It covers how to report abuse in a care home in the UK.

How To Report Nursing Home Negligence–  The CQC guide on how to report negligence in a nursing home could also be useful.

Reporting A Death – This page on the CQC website providers care homes with an important part of the death in a care home procedure, the reporting of the death.

Other Medical Negligence Guides