No Win, No FeeIf you’re thinking of making a personal injury claim, you might be wondering how much compensation you might be entitled to. Well, the truth is that no two claims are the same and compensation amounts can vary widely. Several factors are used to value a compensation claim so we’ve written this article on how to calculate a personal injury claim. We’ll look at each factor individually and explain how they might be applied if you do decide to begin a claim.
We believe you’re more likely to receive the right amount of compensation if you work with a specialist solicitor. As such, we offer a free consultation to see if you could be represented by one of ours. If your claim is taken on, your solicitor will manage your claim on a No Win, No Fee basis. As a result, you won’t be asked to pay any legal fees unless compensation is awarded.
To find out how to calculate a personal injury claim please carry on reading. Otherwise, call us on 0800 652 1345 if you’d like to discuss your claim right away.
When can a personal injury claim be made?
Before we look at how the value of a personal injury claim is calculated, let’s consider the eligibility criteria our personal injury lawyers check before taking claims on. They are:
- You were owed a legal duty of care by the defendant.
- The defendant acted negligently and caused an accident or incident to occur.
- You were made ill or sustained an injury because of the defendant’s negligence.
Generally, if you’re injured in a public place, at your workplace or on a company’s premises, you’ll be owed a duty of care according to one piece of legislation or another. We’ll confirm this for you if you call for a free consultation so you needn’t be too concerned about it at this stage. However, you can help to improve your chances of being compensated by collecting proof to show what happened. We’ll explain what you could use towards the end of this article.
Common personal injury claims
Our solicitors can help with a with variety of personal injury claims. So long as the accident in which you were injured resulted from someone else’s negligence, they could help with:
- Accident at work claims.
- Road traffic accident claims.
- Public place accident claims.
- Slip and trip claims.
- Criminal injury claims.
- Fatal injury claims.
If you’d like us to help calculate how much compensation you might be entitled to, please call us and we’ll discuss your options.
Common personal injuries
Finally, before we begin to explain how to calculate a personal injury claim, it’s worth looking at the types of injuries you could be compensated for. They include:
- Repetitive strain injuries.
- Industrial diseases including mesothelioma and Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).
- Amputations (digits or limbs).
- Serious burns.
- Hand injury.
- Food poisoning and allergic reactions.
How to calculate the value of a personal injury claim
When filing a personal injury claim, the compensation you seek will be based on:
- General damages – to cover pain, suffering and loss of amenity.
- Special damages – to recoup any financial losses linked to your injuries.
Over the next few sections of this guide, we’ll break these two kinds of damages down to show you what you could include in your claim.
Calculating the value for special damages
Loss of earnings
Taking time off work because you’re injured can be quite costly. As such, you could claim back any income you’ve lost because of the injuries you’ve sustained as part of your personal injury claim.
To calculate the loss of earnings, you’ll need to look at what you’d have normally earned while you were injured and what you actually received. For example, you may need to deduct any sick pay you were paid while you were off work.
If you’d have normally earned a bonus or commission or you’d have worked overtime during the period you were away from work, you would need to provide proof of this to support your claim. This could include previous pay slips, sales reports or a letter from your employer.
Medical expenses
You may be entitled to claim back any medical costs such as prescription fees. In some cases, remedial treatment at a private hospital (such as plastic surgery to reduce extensive scarring) or physiotherapy could be claimed back too.
Travel expenses
While you’re injured, you may incur travel costs when attending hospital or GP appointments including fuel costs, parking fees or public transport fares. To calculate the value of your travel expenses, receipts or tickets should be retained.
Care costs
If your injuries mean you need support from someone else, you may be able to claim for their time. This could involve working out an hourly rate to cover the time a friend, relative or loved one spent caring for you. In longer-term cases, you may be entitled to claim back the cost of a professional carer.
Replacement property costs
If any item of your personal belongings was damaged or lost in your accident, you could claim for the cost of repairing or replacing it. This could include clothing, jewellery, mobile phones or luggage amongst other things. To calculate how much personal injury compensation you’ll claim, you should provide original receipts for the items or gather three quotes from retailers to get the latest prices.
Home or vehicle adaptations
Dealing with a disability caused by negligence can be made easier if you make changes to your home or vehicle. These can be expensive changes but could be included in a personal injury claim.
Future loss of earnings
If your injuries will affect your ability to earn in the future, this may need to be factored into your personal injury claim. To calculate how much you should claim, your solicitor will look at your current role and salary, your age and your job prospects.
Calculating the value for general damages
So far, we’ve looked at how to calculate financial losses for a personal injury claim, but how do you calculate compensation for pain and suffering? Well, first of all, you’ll need to prove exactly how you’ve suffered. This is not something a solicitor will do so they will need to book a medical assessment with an independent specialist.
During your appointment, the specialist will examine your injuries, read through any medical records and talk with you about how you’ve been affected. They will then prepare a report for all parties involved in your claim. This will list your injuries and explain your prognosis.
When your solicitor receives the report, they’ll be able to compare your injuries with a list provided by the Judicial College. This list provides compensation ranges for different injuries based on their severity. For example, someone who recovers fully from a broken arm will be compensated less than someone who is left with a disability.
Loss of amenity
This is where you can claim for the loss of enjoyment of your usual activities or hobbies (either temporarily or permanently), as such placing a value on the loss of amenity. Your solicitor will guide you on this once they’ve reviewed exactly how you have been affected.
How else do solicitors calculate personal injury compensation?
As you can see from the information provided so far, there’s a lot to consider when calculating the value of a personal injury claim. It’s important to note that your solicitor will consider your claim based on exactly how you have suffered rather than just placing a value on any particular injury.
Another way a solicitor can put a value on your claim is to look at previous cases of a similar nature. Also, they may need to factor in if you’ve suffered from multiple injuries. For example, a broken arm on its own can cause a lot of issues but if the nerves in the shoulder have been torn at the same time, the suffering will usually be worse.
We believe that it’s important to let a specialist solicitor calculate the value of your personal injury claim as, once you’ve settled the claim in full, you can’t request any more compensation later on. To discuss how much your personal injury claim might be worth, please get in touch today.
Providing proof for a personal injury compensation claim
In reality, it doesn’t matter how you calculate a personal injury claim if you lose your case. Generally, insurance companies (who handle most personal injury claims) will deny liability for any accident unless you can prove to them why their client was to blame and how you’ve suffered as a result. For this reason, your solicitor will look to help collect proof including:
- Photographs of the accident scene and any visible injuries.
- Medical records to help prove your diagnosis.
- Witness statements to help prove your version of events.
- Accident report forms to prove the date and location of the accident.
- Financial records to prove any losses.
- CCTV or dashcam evidence to clarify how the accident happened.
When calculating a personal injury claim, one key factor is confirming the extent of your injuries. We’d always suggest that you visit A&E or your GP for advice rather than only relying on first aid. Your solicitor could then request copies of your medical notes to confirm your injuries.
If you’ve already obtained some proof relating to your accident, please let us know when you call as it could improve the chances of your claim being accepted by one of our solicitors.
Personal injury claim time limits
You may already know that personal injury claims in the UK have a 3-year time limit. This will begin from:
- The date of your accident if your injuries were apparent immediately.
- Your date of knowledge if your injuries were diagnosed later.
- A child’s 18th birthday (meaning a litigation friend can claim at any point before that date).
- The date you became aware that a loved one had died from their injuries (even if they’d started their own claim within the last 3 years before death).
While your claim is being processed, your solicitor will have plenty to do so it’s a good idea to begin the process as soon as possible.
If liability is accepted early by the defendant but more time is needed to work out the extent of your suffering, interim payments might be requested to help you deal with the financial implications of your injuries (lost income, medical treatment or care costs).
No Win, No Fee claims
Our panel of personal injury solicitors offer a No Win, No Fee service to try and reduce the amount of stress involved in the claims process. That means that without any legal fees paid upfront, they will seek to:
- Discuss your claim in detail with you.
- Calculate the value of your claim.
- Collect proof and arrange for medical reports.
- File the claim and handle all communications with the defendant.
- Try to deal with any arguments or queries regarding liability.
- Attempt to secure the maximum level of compensation possible for your suffering.
A point of note is that you won’t need to pay for any of the work above if the claim fails. If there is a positive outcome though and you’re paid compensation, a success fee will be deducted to cover your solicitor’s work and costs.
So that you know exactly what level of success fee you’ll pay, it will be clearly listed in the agreement you’ll be sent to sign before your claim begins.
Further questions on how to calculate a personal injury claim
If you have any questions on how to calculate a personal injury claim, please call us today on 0800 652 1345. We’ll review your claim with you and offer free legal advice on your next steps.
If one of our personal injury solicitors agrees to represent you, they’ll manage the claims process on a No Win, No Fee basis so you’ll only pay for their work if you’re compensated.
Please also consider using our live chat service to speak with a specialist right away.
