Welcome to our guide, which offers guidance and support to those who want to make a successful personal injury claim.
You are probably aware that if you’re injured you can seek damages if somebody else caused the accident, but do you know how to make a successful personal injury claim? You may be considering making your own compensation claim but wondering where to start and what information you’ll need.
This guide will answer all of the questions you may have and many more besides which we hope you’ll find useful. If you want to discuss your claim with Advice.co.uk straight away, then you can call us on 0161 696 9685 and speak with one our claims advisers.
But, if you want to know more first, please carry on reading this useful guide.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim
- What Is A Personal Injury Claim?
- How Much You Can Claim For Different Personal Injuries
- What Types Of Damages Can Personal Injury Claims Compensate You For?
- How Can Solicitors Help Victims Of Accidents?
- What Should You Do At The Scene Of The Accident?
- How To Deal With You Injuries
- What Evidence Do I Need To Start A Compensation Claim?
- What Is The Process Of Starting A Personal Injury Claim?
- What Happens During My Initial Consultation?
- Am I Likely To Make A Successful Claim With This Evidence?
- What Can You Do To Have A Better Chance Of Making A Successful Personal injury Claim?
- What Happens If Your Claim Goes To Court – Can You Still Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
- Further Points To Think About
- Time Limits To Make Your Claim
- How Do I Claim Compensation For My Accident?
- No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claims
- Why Choose Our Friendly Team To Help You Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
- Contact Us For Help Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim
- Related Guides To Help You Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim
A Guide To Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim
Personal injury claims guide
Most people in the UK have heard the adverts about personal injury solicitors offering no win no fee agreements to take on your injury claim but are put off because they’re worried about costs and the chances of losing the case.
This guide sets out to answer many of your questions such as “What is considered a personal injury case?”, “What is the average settlement for a personal injury?” and “How many personal injury claims go to court?”
Advice.co.uk are personal injury specialists who offer free legal advice to anybody considering making a claim as we believe it’s important you receive the correct advice before deciding on what to do next.
In this guide we’ll cover what evidence you need to make a successful personal injury claim, potential compensation amounts, what happens if the claim goes to court, claim time limits and how no win no fee agreements really work.
What Is A Personal Injury Claim?
A personal injury claim is when you ask another person, company or organisation for compensation because they caused an accident in which you were injured. This is usually done with a personal injury solicitor on your side because they understand the current litigation to support your claim.
To be eligible to make a claim you need to prove that:
- The defendant (the person you’re blaming for your injuries) owed you a duty of care;
- Then, in some way, they breached that duty of care;
- And finally, because of the breach, you suffered an injury or injuries.
If you believe your claim meets all of the above criteria, then you should be able to make a claim. Call our team and they will assess your claim to determine if it’s likely to succeed or not, for free.
How Much You Can Claim For Different Personal Injuries
A substantial part of any compensation claim is what’s known as “General Damages” which we’ll cover in more detail later on, but essentially, it’s compensation for pain and suffering caused.
It’s important to remember that general damages are only one part of a claim so the table below outlines some general damages amounts, but it is important to remember that it is not a conclusive estimate of how much compensation you may receive in a successful personal injury claim.
| Injury to which party of body? | Severity | Compensation Range | Further details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ankle | Extremely Severe | £39,910 - £55,560 | This range is for the most severe injures where there may be an amputation or severe deformity/disability |
| Ankle | Moderate to Severe | £10,960 - £39.910 | Includes injuries that require multiple surgeries including serious fractures |
| Arm | Extremely Severe | £76,650 - £239,140 | This range can include the loss of both arms (or a single arm) through amputation |
| Arm | Severe | £31,220 - £104,370 | This range is where a single or both arms end up with restricted movement |
| Back | Severe | £30,910 - £128,320 | Injuries to the upper or lower back that may include paralysis |
| Back | Moderate | £9,970 - £30,910 | Can include injuries that leave constant discomfort and pain including tissue or ligament damage |
| Eye | Extremely Severe | £43,710 - £214,210 | Loss of sight in one eye and partial loss in the other or loss of sight in both eyes |
| Eye | Moderate to Severe | £7,270 - £43,710 | Loss of sight in a single eye or restricted vision (severe) in both eyes |
| Face | Extremely Severe | £14,320 - £77,580 | Severe facial scarring with physical and psychological damage caused |
| Face | Moderate to Severe | £1,850 - £36,310 | Multiple or single fractures of the face bones including the nose |
| Finger | Mild - Severe | To £29,290 | The range of compensation in this range is determined by which fingers are injured/impacted |
| Foot | Extremely Severe | £66,930 - £160,600 | The loss of one or both feet are injuries that this category compensates for |
| Foot | Moderate to Severe | £10,960 - £55,830 | Restricted movement of one or both feet sustained because of injuries such as fractures |
| Head | Extremely Severe | £224,800 - £322,060 | A brain damage injury that leads to states such as permanent unresponsiveness |
| Head | Moderately Severe | £174,620 - £224,800 | Injuries such as personality disorders caused by a head injury |
| Head | Moderate | £34,300 - £174,620 | If the ability to work or chances of epilepsy are increased by a head injury |
| Knee | Severe | £20,880 - £76,690 | Muscle wasting or serious knee defects |
| Knee | Moderate | Up to £20,880 | Cartilage damage, soft tissue damage and muscle damage |
| Leg | Extremely Severe | £78,100 - £224,800 | Usually will be awarded where one or both legs are amputated above or below the knee |
| Shoulder | Severe | £10,180 - £38,280 | Shoulder injuries where numbness, loss of use of paralysis are caused |
| Shoulder | Moderate | £6,290 - £10,180 | Longer term injuries where movement is restricted |
| Toe | Mild - Severe | To £44,710 | This range will depend entirely on which of the toes are affected |
| Wrist | Mild - Severe | £2,810 - £47,720 | From sprains to amputation |
| Hand | Extremely Severe | £11,520 - £160,600 | This range is the most severe of hand injuries where amputation of one or both hands occur |
| Hand | Moderate to Severe | £4,640 - £10,580 | Crush type injuries, with restricted use of the hand because of the injuries will be at the higher end of this range. |
| Neck | Extremely Severe | £36,240 - £118,240 | Neck injuries where movement / use will be restricted heavily |
| Neck | Mild | Up to £ 6,290 | Whiplash/soft-tissue type injuries |
As you’ll notice, each injury type, from a toe injury to a head injury has a compensation range. This is usually from minor to severe and your solicitor will need to support your claim with medical evidence to ensure your injury is placed in the right part of the range.
We cover the other elements of a claim in the next section.
What Types Of Damages Can Personal Injury Claims Compensate You For?
Any personal injury lawyer will use a number of ‘Heads of Loss’ to work out how much compensation to claim on your behalf. These are the different elements used for the different effects that the injury has caused you. They include:
General Damages
As discussed, this is the part of compensation that is awarded for the pain and suffering the injuries caused you. They are pre-defined in legal documents, so your solicitor needs to prove how severe your injuries were, with medical evidence, so that you receive the correct amount of compensation.
Special Damages
These are different to general damages as they are to reimburse you for any financial losses that the injuries have caused you. After compensation has been paid, you shouldn’t be worse off (financially) than you were prior to the accident. Some examples of special damages are:
Travelling costs
You may have had to alter your travel arrangements while you were recovering, or permanently depending on the severity of your injuries, so you can claim any additional travel costs. You can include traveling to and from medical appointments.
Replacement of personal property
If any item of personal property was damaged in your accident, then you can claim back the cost of repair or replacing the item.
Carer costs
When you’re recovering, if you require any help to complete tasks you’d normally undertake, and there are financial costs associated with the care, you may be able to add these to the claim.
Loss of earnings
As you recover from your injuries you may require recuperation time off from work or time off to attend medical appointments. If this is the case, you can claim for any earnings you’ve lost.
Your solicitor will claim for any losses you’ve incurred but also, they’ll work out any financial losses you might incur going forwards. For example, if you are likely to need to attend more medical treatment in the future then they can include the future loss of earnings in the claim.
This is the kind of knowledge that an experienced personal injury specialist will have and will ensure you get the correct compensation amount.
How Can Solicitors Help Victims Of Accidents?
Some people query what a personal injury solicitor can do or wonder if they can make a personal injury claim themselves.
The main benefits of using a solicitor rather than going at it alone are that they are experienced in making claims, understand the legislation, can provide you with an estimate of what compensation you may get as well as, importantly, helping you to understand if your case is viable or not.
It’s important to use this expertise, otherwise you could spend a lot of time an effort when you really had no chance of success at all.
What Should You Do At The Scene Of The Accident?
There are a number of things that you can do at the scene of any accident that can help with the personal injury claims process. These include:
- Photograph the scene of the accident, before anything is moved (such as vehicles, trip hazards, faulty machinery etc). Include as much detail as possible.
- Write down the details yourself while everything is still fresh in your mind.
- In a road traffic accident, get the insurance details of the other driver and if any witnesses cars (or your own) have dashcams fitted, try to obtain a copy.
- Ask any witnesses for their contact details.
- If you’re in a public place, or workplace, ensure your accident is placed in an accident report book (and ask for a copy).
- If the police attend the scene of the accident, ask for the officers’ details.
All of these steps can provide evidence and increase the chance of successfully winning a compensation payment.
How To Deal With You Injuries
As well as the above steps, to make a successful personal injury claim, you’ll need to take further steps to deal with your injuries:
- Ensure you see a doctor, either a local GP or at a hospital, as soon as possible, even if you don’t feel any immediate symptoms, because adrenaline and trauma can hide any pain.
- Keep evidence of all trips to hospital or doctors including travel expenses, prescription costs etc
What Evidence Do I Need To Start A Compensation Claim?
When using a personal injury lawyer, there are some things that they must have, as a minimum, to begin a claim. These include:
- Details of the accident including where it happened, the cause and the date & time.
- The details of injuries you sustained, the doctor that assessed you and how they treated you.
- The contact details of witnesses who can confirm what happened.
- Details of any legal expense insurance policy that you may have.
What Is The Process Of Starting A Personal Injury Claim?
The right way to start a personal injury claim is to call a company like Advice.co.uk, tell us all of the details of your accident, the cause, your injuries and why you think somebody else was to blame.
We’ll offer an initial consultation, offer free legal advice on what else you need to do or what your next steps should be, and, if we’re happy that your case is valid, connect you with a personal injury solicitor.
It’s that easy to begin and you can call upon our specialist expertise in dealing with personal injury claims.
What Happens During My Initial Consultation?
It’s important for both parties that there is an initial consultation as:
- The solicitor needs to know that there is a good chance of success as they’re agreeing to only be paid if they win the case
- The client doesn’t want to proceed with a lengthy claim, only to find out a key piece of evidence was missing right from the start.
Therefore, the solicitor will listen to the details of your claim and use your statement and evidence to determine if your case has any chance of succeeding or not.
They’ll also take details of the injuries you suffered, how they were caused and how they’ve impacted on you so that they can assess the amount of compensation you could apply for.
Am I Likely To Make A Successful Claim With This Evidence?
If you have all of the supporting evidence, we’ve outlined in this guide then you still could find it difficult to win compensation without the right support.
The main reason for this is, even though companies such as employers, retailers or restaurants have insurance in place to deal with personal injury claims, they still defend them strongly to prevent making a payment, or to reduce the amount of compensation paid.
This is understandable, but not fair on you if you genuinely have a claim against them, so using a personal injury specialist to support your claim is vital as they can provide strong evidence (sometimes using medical expert analysis) to counter any negative arguments provided by the third party’s solicitor or own legal team.
What Can You Do To Have A Better Chance Of Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
When you engage with Advice.co.uk, you are able to call upon specially trained personal injury specialists who know exactly what is required to make a successful personal injury claim (and also what’s not needed).
The personal injury solicitors that we use know how and when to use medical experts as well as expert witnesses to support claims where necessary.
A key point to our service is that, we only use No Win No Fee solicitors (more to follow on this) which means you’re not risking ending up with a large legal bill while making use of personal injury and legal experts.
The personal injury solicitor we could connect you with will know how to build a concise and professional claim and be able to deal with any objections that the defendant’s solicitor raises.
This is key, as they will usually try to counter and without a specialist injury solicitor on your side, their arguments can use legal jargon that appears to make their argument compelling.
What Happens If Your Claim Goes To Court? Could You Still Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
While it’s rare for personal injury claims to end up in court, if the defendant continues to deny liability for your injuries or if both parties don’t agree on a compensation amount, then court proceedings can be initiated.
Using our service, the solicitor we use will represent you in court (still under the No Win No Fee agreement) to state your case to a judge. The defendant’s solicitor will do the same from their side.
The judge may require reports to be supplied but once they’ve heard enough information, they will either find in favour of the defendant or the claimant.
If compensation is awarded, then it will be sent to your solicitor before being sent on to you (less the solicitors fees – see below). If no compensation is awarded, then under no win no fee agreements, you won’t have to pay your solicitor for their service.
Further Points To Think About
Following all of the advice in this guide, there are some final points to clarify and which can help with your claim:
- Tell the truth at all times during the claim. Don’t exaggerate about injuries, financial losses and certainly don’t lie about the cause of the accident. You could face criminal charges for a false claim.
- Ensure you lodge your claim within the allowed time limits (see the next section for details). Failure to do so will usually result in the loss of your right to claim compensation.
- To help with a successful personal injury claim, try to provide evidence of proof of any lost earnings (such as pay slips, timesheets, doctors appointments etc) so that your solicitor can use these as evidence.
Time Limits To Make Your Claim
Personal injury claim time limit
All personal injury claims in the UK are subject to strict time limits. If you fail to make a claim within these time limits, the defendant’s solicitors will reject the claim as would any court.
The current time limits are:
| Type of Claim | Time Limit |
|---|---|
| Child personal injury claim | If adult claims: 3 years from accident or child can claim within 3 years from their 18th birthday |
| Adult personal injury claim | 3 years |
| Industrial Disease | 3 years from date of doctors diagnosis |
| Medical Negligence | 3 years from date you found out about injuries |
It is therefore recommended that you contact us at Advice.co.uk as soon as you can following an accident. This will give us, and a solicitor, enough time to gather supporting evidence with which to build your claim.
How Do I Claim Compensation For My Accident?
The process of claiming compensation usually starts by calling a claims specialist like Advice.co.uk to get the ball rolling.
Once they’ve assessed your claim and agreed to take it on, a solicitor will build the case and ask the defendant for an amount of compensation.
The solicitor will then try to deal with any objections or counter offers and hopefully agree to a compensation amount that fully compensates you for your injuries and losses.
If a successful personal injury claim isn’t settled, then the personal injury lawyer may recommend that the case is taken to court.
The main thing here is, that if you want to make a claim, that you should contact Advice.co.uk as soon as possible following your decision to claim.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claims
We’ve talked about no win no fee claims a lot during this guide, as Advice.co.uk works only with solicitors who offer this service.
But what are the options when making a claim?
Option 1: Use a no win no fee solicitor. They work for free if they lose the case, but if they win, they keep a percentage of your compensation to pay for their service (called a success fee which is limited to a maximum of 25%)
Option 2: Pay a solicitor an hourly rate for their service. You keep 100% of any compensation awarded but you have to pay the solicitor for their service (sometimes upfront) if they win or lose.
We think option one is the most risk-free and stress-free way of making a claim as you never have to send a payment to the solicitor, win or lose, and with option two, you could end up with a large legal bill and no compensation.
Why Choose Our Friendly Team To Help You Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
Advice.co.uk have a friendly team of personal injury specialists waiting to help you with your claim. Not only can they offer free legal advice while you decide what to do, they are committed to ensuring you get the compensation your injuries deserve.
If you decide to contact us, we’ll follow the following process to deal with your claim.
| You get in touch with us (either by email, phone or post) | We'll listen to the details and assess the merits of your claim | If you're happy, and we agree that you have a good chance of success, we'll begin the claim |
Contact Us For Help Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim
Here at Advice.co.uk, we can help with any personal injury claims throughout the whole of the UK. We have a team of injury specialists and only work with solicitors who offer a no win no fee service to reduce the risk in making a claim (as well as the stress!)
If you’d like us to help you to make a successful personal injury claim today, then you can get in touch in any of the following ways:
- Telephone: Call today on 0161 696 9685 to be connected with one of our team straight away
- Online: Fill in a simple online form to begin your claim
- Email: Send us details of your claim to [email protected] and we can call you back at a more convenient time to discuss how to proceed.
Once you get in touch, we’ll assess your claim in a free consultation, give you an estimate of compensation you may be eligible for and, importantly, advise on the chances that you’ll successfully win your case.
Related Guides To Help You Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim
Hopefully this guide about making a successful personal injury claim has given you enough information and you know whether to begin your claim or not. For further information, please take a look at these useful guides:
Personal Injury Claims – Don’t just take our word for it, here’s another guide about making a successful personal injury claim by Citizens Advice.
Broken Bones Guide – This is a really useful reference article, by the NHS, if you’ve broken a bone – including causes, symptoms and treatments.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – If you’re considering making a claim against your employer, then this may be the legislation that we could use to support your claim.
FAQ On Making A Successful Personal Injury Claim
What sort of workplace accident could lead to a successful personal injury claim?
If you’ve been injured at work, you might be considering making an injury claim, but you may not know what type of accident you could claim for. In essence, if you could prove your employer breached their duty of care towards you, to look after your health and safety at work, and this caused your accident and injuries, you could make a successful personal injury claim.
Claims could result from accidents caused by:
- Inadequate training
- Lack of protective equipment
- Failure to remove trip hazards
- Lack of maintenance or repair to equipment
The most common causes of work accidents reported by employees to the Labour Force Survey according to the HSE in 2020-21 are as follows.
Could A Child Make A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
Children are not deemed to have the legal capacity to make their own personal injury claims while they are under the age of 18. This leaves two options. Either, a parent could act as a litigation friend and bring an action against the liable party. If they did so, they’d be able to make decisions about the settlement and claim on the child’s behalf. Or, a child could claim once they become an adult if no one has claimed on their behalf.
What Are The Elements Of A Successful Personal Injury Claim?
To make a successful personal injury claim, a claimants would have to demonstrate that the liable party had a dury of care towards them. They would also need to prove that there had been a breach of that duty, and that they breach had caused the accident and injuries they suffered.