Advice On Claims If Injured Working For Cash

By Lewis Lennon. Last Updated 19th October 2022. If you sustain an injury in a workplace accident that wasn’t your fault, you could claim compensation by making a personal injury claim.

If you work a cash in hand job, you might wonder if you are still able to claim compensation after being injured at work. If your pay is given by cash or via bank transfer, it has no relevance to your ability to claim. As long as you are legally employed, then you can still claim following an accident at work.

In the sections below, we explain what could constitute a workplace accident and talk about the types of workplace accidents that could lead to a claim. We also discuss how you could be injured while working and when it is legal for you to take payment in cash for work you complete, either as an employee or someone self-employed.

We also discuss how lawyers calculate compensation payouts and how much could be appropriate for different injuries. Further to this, you’ll find information on how to get a personal injury solicitor to help you claim.

If your employer is paying you cash in hand and you were injured whilst working, get in touch today to see if you could be eligible to claim. Call us on 0161 696 9685 or use the live chat on this screen.

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A Guide On Claims If Injured Working For Cash
Calculating Compensation When Injured Working For Cash
Additional Damages Awarded For Workplace Injury Claims
What Is Working For Cash?
Is It Legal To Be Paid In Cash?
Can I Prove My Income If I Get Paid Cash?
Can I Prove I Am Employed When Working For Cash?
How To Show An Employer’s Duty Of Care
Proving You Got Injured Working For Cash
FAQs: Claiming If Injured Working For Cash
No Win No Fee Claims If Injured Working For Cash
Why Choose Our Friendly Team?
Speak To Our Team
More Information

A Guide On Claims If Injured Working For Cash

Are you currently, or have you previously worked for cash? And have you been injured while working for cash? No matter how your employer pays you or how you receive payment as someone who is self-employed, as long as it is legal, you could still claim compensation if you can prove that someone else is at fault for your workplace injury.

We have created this guide to show you the difference between claiming after being injured while working ‘under the table’ and being injured while taking cash payment legally for the work you complete.

In the sections below, we’ll explore the different reasons you might be working for cash and how this could affect a personal injury claim. We’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions about cash in hand injury claims, including:

Is it legal to work cash in hand?
Can an employer get in trouble for paying cash?
What happens if you get hurt working ‘under the table’?
Does getting hurt while working under the table affect your compensation payout?
Are you entitled to full pay if you’re injured at work?

We also discuss how you could obtain free legal advice from our experts and how No Win No Fee claims could allow you to seek assistance from a solicitor without having to pay their fee unless your case is successful.

Calculating Compensation When Injured Working For Cash

If you’re looking for an online personal injury claims calculator to give you an accurate idea of how much compensation a claim could bring you, you could be disappointed. The sums these tools generate cannot accurately assess the injury level and cannot look at your case’s unique facts and circumstances. Therefore, the sums they produce are only rough estimates.

While pursuing a personal injury claim for a workplace injury, you’ll need to attend a medical assessment appointment with an independent medical expert. The expert would review your past medical record, where appropriate, as well as examining you and asking questions about your injury.

They would use this information and their professional knowledge to create a medical report that details your injuries and prognosis. This medical evidence is crucial in determining how much compensation your claim could be worth.

Guideline Payout Amounts

We recognise that you may want to get some idea of how much compensation could be appropriate for your claim before you go ahead. With this in mind, we have produced a table with figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for different injuries you could sustain in a workplace accident. The JCG is a publication solicitors may use to value injuries.

These figures should give you some insight into how much your claim could be worth. If you cannot see your injury below, please don’t hesitate to call us. We’d be happy to guide you over the phone on other injuries.

Injury Site	Guideline Payout Amount	Severity
Neck	Up to £7,410	Minor
Back	Up to £11,730	Minor
Neck	£7,410 - £36,120	Moderate
Pelvis/Hips	£11,820 - £36,770	Moderate
Back	£11,730 - £26,050	Moderate
Leg	£26,050 - £36,790	Moderate
Shoulder	£7,410 - £11,980	Moderate
Neck	£42,680 - £139,210	Severe
Leg	£36,790 - £127,530	Severe
Pelvis/Hips	£36,770 - £122,860	Severe
Arm	£90,250 - £122,860	Severe
Shoulder	£18,020 - £45,070	Severe
Back	£36,390 - £151,070	Severe

Additional Damages Awarded For Workplace Injury Claims

If you’re wondering ‘Can I get money for a work injury for more than just the injury itself?’, you might be interested to learn that there are, in fact, different types of damages that could make up your compensation payout.

General Damages

This compensation relates to the suffering, pain and loss of amenity your injuries have caused you. They are non-pecuniary, which means they have no definitive price tag. To come to a value for general damages, lawyers assess all the evidence, including the medical evidence we mentioned earlier. Examples of general damages payouts are in the table in the previous section.

Special Damages

As well as general damages, special damages could form part of your payout. This compensation relates to your injury’s actual cost in terms of the out-of-pocket expenses it causes. Special damages could include a variety of costs and losses, as illustrated below:

Loss Of Earnings

Some people need to take time off work to recover from workplace injuries. This means they could lose out on some of their income. If you lose out on income, including overtime and bonuses, you could claim these as special damages.

Care Costs

If you need someone to look after you at home because your injuries render you incapable of looking after yourself, you could include care costs within your claim. This would include any professional care you may need, or if you’ve been provided care by friends or family members.

Travel Expenses

You could also include travel expenses for trips to see your lawyer or to get to hospital appointments, for example. If you have to use public transport because your injuries have hindered your ability to drive, these expenses could also be included.

Medical Costs

Did you pay for prescription medicines due to your injury? Perhaps you’ve had to undergo private counselling or private physiotherapy to help you recover. You could include costs such as these within your claim too.

Evidencing Special Damages

It would be much more difficult for you to claim for expenses you can’t evidence, so it could be a wise decision to put all receipts, bills, payslips and bank statements in a safe place. This way, you could have them to hand when you need them, and you wouldn’t risk losing out on the compensation you could have been eligible to claim.

What Is Working For Cash?

Working for cash is something that could apply to you for a number of reasons:

If You’re Self-Employed

You may take cash payments if you are self-employed, for example, and take cash from the public for your services. Examples of jobs in which you may take payment in cash could include:

Taxi driver
Painter/decorator
Plumber
Street artist
Window cleaner
Coffee stall
Market trader

In these situations, you could take cash in hand but you would need to declare it to HMRC, in order to pay the correct tax on your income.

If You’re Employed

You could also take payment in cash as an employee. While many people choose to have their wages paid into a bank account, others may prefer cash payments. Your employer would have the responsibility in many of these cases to deduct your income tax and National Insurance (and possible other contributions) before paying you what they owe you.

What Happens If You Work Cash In Hand In Another Way?

The third example would be if your employer pays you what is known as ‘under the table’, avoiding tax and attempting to avoid their duty of care towards you as an employee. If you are injured working for cash in this situation, your employment rights may not be as clear as they would in the other instances we mention above.

Is It Legal To Be Paid In Cash?

If you’re wondering, ‘Is it legal to work cash in hand?’ the answer is yes. As long as the relevant tax and National Insurance were being paid on your earnings, either by deduction from your wage by your employer or by yourself if you’re self-employed, then it could be perfectly legal to be paid in cash.

Should I Still Be Given A Payslip?

If you’re employed, your employer should give you a payslip, no matter what method they use to pay you. This is their legal obligation. Your payslip should include:

Your pay before deductions
Variable deductions (such as income tax, National Insurance or pension)
Fixed deductions (such as union subscriptions)
How your pay will be given to you (i.e. BACS, CHAPS, cash or cheque)
Your pay after deductions

While your employer must give you a payslip, there is no requirement for it to be printed. It could be a printed piece of paper, a .pdf file or in an online system.

How Can I Prove My Income If I Get Paid Cash?

You should be able to prove your employment status, even if you take payment in cash. The five main types of worker, according to the Government, are:

Workers
The self-employed
Employees
Directors
Officeholders

If your employer pays you cash, providing they deduct the correct amount and give you a payslip, this is perfectly legal. You could prove your income using your payslip.

What If I Am Self-Employed?

If, however, you receive cash in hand as someone self-employed, you should keep your own records. There are many ways in which you could keep track of your earnings, expenditure and tax obligations, such as:

Creating a pay stub system where you log cash payments
Keeping a ledger, or a spreadsheet
Using bookkeeping software
Making regular deposits to your bank and keeping statements

You should also, under HMRC requirements, keep the following documents:

Proof of business expenses (receipts)
VAT records
Sales and income documents, such as receipts, till rolls and bank slips, for example
PAYE records, if you are an employer
Documents relating to business grants
Records of your personal income

Can I Prove I Am Employed When Working For Cash?

Proving your employment status is something you may have to do if you’re injured while working for cash. If you work for a business and the following applies, you could be considered an employee:

Your employer requires you to work regularly unless you are taking leave.
They require you to a minimum number of working hours and pay you according to the time worked.
You can’t send someone else to do your work.
You are paid for holidays.
You’re entitled to maternity, paternity and contractual or Statutory Sick Pay.
Your employer provides you with the materials to do the job.
You can join the pension scheme.
There are disciplinary and grievance procedures that apply to you.

If you’re unsure whether you are an employee, you can read more about checking your status and working rights on the Government website.

How To Show An Employers Duty Of Care

If you’ve been injured working for cash and intend to claim compensation, you would be asked to prove the employer in question had a duty of care towards you. The duty of care someone has towards you could differ depending on your status of employment.

Can I Get Money For A Work Injury If I’m Self-Employed?

If you’re self-employed and are injured on an employer’s premises, you may be able to claim if:

The premises were unsafe, and that led to your injury. (This could be under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.)
You sustain an injury on the road while travelling to work as a self-employed person.

Do You Get Paid For An Injury At Work As An Employee?

If you’re an employee, whether your employer pays you in cash or not, they have a legal duty to protect your health and safety while you are at work—the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to ensure this. That duty extends to:

Ensuring as much as reasonably practicable that the workplace and work systems don’t pose health risks.
Providing training for employees on how to work safely.
Performing risk assessments and acting to reduce known risks where practicable.
Providing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees if it is appropriate.

If you are injured while working for cash and would like free legal advice to help you work out if you could claim, our advisors would be glad to help. You can call the Advice.co.uk team at any time.

Proving You Got Injured Working For Cash

To prove you have been injured while working through no fault of your own, you could take the following steps:

Make sure you report the accident. If there is an accident book at your workplace, someone should record your accident there. If you’re not sure whether there is an accident book, or you’re self-employed, you could write to the responsible party with the details of the accident. It would be wise to keep a copy for yourself.
Get medical help. Even if your injuries are minor, you must obtain the appropriate advice and support to manage your injury. It could also serve as useful proof of your injury.
Take witness details if someone witnesses you being injured while working for cash.
Take photographs of the injuries you sustain and the site of the accident.
Get free legal advice on proving your claim (we could help with this).

RIDDOR Reports

There are certain specified injuries and work-related illnesses that employers need to report under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). If you are self-employed, you should report those specified illnesses and injuries yourself.

How Long Do I Have To Claim If I’m Injured Working For Cash?

We would always advise claimants to consider claiming as soon as they are able. This could help make the process of gathering evidence easier in some cases. There is also a personal injury claims time limit that applies to many workplace accidents and illnesses. You would usually have 3 years from the date you became aware that an injury was work-related and not your fault or from the date of the accident itself. Some exceptions could apply, however.

FAQs: Claiming If Injured Working For Cash

Can you get in trouble for working for cash?

If you’re wondering, ‘Is it legal to work cash in hand?’, the answer depends on whether you or your employer ensures you meet your tax, National Insurance and potentially other deduction obligations. When your employer deducts tax and National Insurance before paying you or completing your tax returns as someone self-employed, this should be legal, and therefore, you would not get in trouble. If your employer attempts to pay you ‘under the table’ and does not meet their legal obligations towards HMRC in this regard, they could be in trouble.

What happens if you get hurt working under the table?

If you are injured working for cash under the table, your legal rights to claim may be affected. We would urge you to contact us for free legal advice in this instance. We could help you work out whether you could be eligible to claim or not.

Do I Get Paid If You’re Injured At Work?

The answer would depend on your employment status. If you’re an employee, you may be paid contractual sick pay or Statutory Sick Pay. If you’re self-employed, you could be eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

No Win No Fee Claims If Injured Working For Cash

If you’ve been through no fault of your own and believe you could have a valid claim, you may be looking for a solicitor to help you. Were you aware that choosing a solicitor that works under No Win No Fee terms means you don’t pay their fee unless your claim is successful? Here’s how No Win No Fee claims work:

Your lawyer sends an agreement to you to sign and return. Within the agreement are details of the success fee you’ll pay your solicitor if they achieve a compensation payout for you. The fee is nominal.
When you send back the signed agreement, your lawyer will start working on your claim.
Then, after they have successfully negotiated a compensation payout for you and the liable party pays it, the lawyer would deduct their success fee from that payout. You’d benefit from the rest.
If your claim fails to bring you compensation, you don’t pay your solicitor’s costs or the success fee.

Want to read about No Win No Fee claims in more detail? We have produced a guide to help you. Alternatively, you can call us at any time to get answers to any questions you might have. We could even put you in touch with a No Win No Fee personal injury lawyer from our panel.

Why Choose Our Friendly Team?

Here at Advice.co.uk, we want potential claimants to have all the information they need to make informed choices about making personal injury claims. We have years of experience helping people get the compensation they deserve by providing free legal advice and putting people in touch with solicitors who could help them. Our simple three-step process works as follows:

Contact the Advice.co.uk team in confidence by phone, live chat or contact form.

Our expert advisors will offer free legal advice and check your eligibility to claim for free.

They could help you start your claim by putting you in contact with a personal injury solicitor

Speak To Our Team

If you’ve been injured working for cash and you’re ready to get free legal advice from Advice.co.uk or have us help you start a claim, all you need to do is get in touch. You could do so by:

Calling our advisors on 0161 696 9685
Completing the contact form
Using Live Chat

More Information

Health And Safety Statistics – Here, you can find health and safety statistics from the HSE website.

Self-Employment And Benefits – You may be entitled to claim benefits if you are self-employed. Find out more on the government’s website.

Health And Safety Law – You can find out more about health and safety law on the HSE website.

Below, you can find links to lots more guides on accidents at work:

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