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What Are Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims And How Are They Calculated?

By Lewis Cobain. Last Updated 23rd September 2024. You may have heard of success fees in personal injury claims and wondered what they are, especially if you’re thinking of making a claim yourself. Our detailed guide answers the main questions about these fees, including:

  • What is a success fee?
  • How are things like lost earnings accounted for?
  • What fees do I pay if the claim isn’t successful?

Our expert personal injury solicitors work under a Conditional Fee Agreement, which involves the client paying a success fee to account for the solicitor’s work in helping them win the case. However, this fee only applies if the case wins. This guide also discusses the arrangement and how making a No Win No Fee claim minimises the number of times you need to pay a fee.

You can learn all you need to know about claiming, including your own chances of seeking compensation for a personal injury, by using our free support service. An advisor is ready to talk to you now, so just try any of these routes:

  • Calling our helpline on 0800 073 8804.
  • Using our contact page to request a call.
  • Starting a live chat conversation now through the button in the corner of your screen.
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Select A Section

  1. What Are Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims?
  2. Could I Make A Personal Injury Claim?
  3. Examples Of Personal Injury Compensation Payouts
  4. Make A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claim
  5. Learn More About Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims

Here’s our quick explainer video on what is a success fee and how it is calculated:

What Are Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims?

So, what is a success fee exactly?

Solicitors who operate on a No Win No Fee basis will take a percentage of your compensation package if they win your claim. This is known as a success fee and pays your solicitor for the time they’ve spent working on your case.

Under a No Win No Fee agreement, the success fee is taken as a percentage of your compensation, regardless of the settlement figure you receive. However, as per the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, the fee is legally capped at 25%.

This does not mean that a solicitor will always take 25% of your compensation; it means that they can take an amount up to this level. The amount deducted can depend upon the work completed on your case.

Which Cases Do Success Fees Apply To?

No Win No Agreements can be offered in several types of claims, including claims for:

If you are interested in making a claim and want to learn more about success fees in personal injury claims, then please reach out to one of our advisers.

Could I Make A Personal Injury Claim?

Before worrying about success fees in personal injury claims, first you need to establish whether or not you have a valid case. In order to make a valid personal injury claim, you have to be able to prove that:

  • You were owed a duty of care.
  • This duty was breached.
  • As a result, you suffered injuries.

If someone owes you a duty of care, this means that they are responsible for your health and safety. Some examples of when you could be owed a duty of care include:

  • At work: When you are working, you’re owed a duty of care by your employer. They have to take steps to keep you safe under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA).
  • In public: The controller of a public space owes you a duty of care, which means they need to ensure your reasonable safety if you’re using the space for its intended purposes. This is set out by the Occupiers’ Liability Act (1957).
  • On the road: While you are on the road, other road users owe you a duty of care to act in a way that prevents harm or damage to themselves and others. All road users are expected to follow the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988 to uphold this duty.

If you’d like to know if a personal injury solicitor could help you with your claim, contact our team today. They can offer more information on legal costs, success fees, and working under a No Win No Fee agreement.

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What Is The Time Limit For A Personal Injury Claim?

Now that we’ve discussed what a success fee is in a personal injury claim, you might be wondering, ‘what is the time limit for claiming for a personal injury?’. Usually, you have three years from the date you were injured to bring forward a claim.

However, there are times when the limitation period may be suspended, as stated in the Limitation Act 1980. For example:

  • If a minor is hurt in an accident, the time limit is suspended until their 18th birthday. They then have until their 21st birthday to take action if a claim has not been started on their behalf.
  • Should a person lack the mental capacity to make a claim by themselves, the time limit is suspended indefinitely and would only ever begin if they gain the mental capacity that is required to start a claim.

The court can appoint a litigation friend to take action on behalf of someone who is mentally unsound or is a minor, but only on the condition they can be trusted to make competent and fair decisions.

Please don’t hesitate to contact our advisors if you have any further questions about the time limit or success fees. They could connect you with our experienced No Win No Fee solicitors if you seek legal help.

Examples Of Personal Injury Compensation Payouts

Compensation is often comprised of general and special damages. General damages are the compensation you may receive for any physical or psychological injuries.

In order to accurately value your injuries, consideration will be given to the severity of the harm you’ve suffered and the likelihood of your injuries having a long-term impact.

For that reason, medical evidence will be required to understand the extent of your condition.  For instance, medical reports outlining any treatment or diagnosis you received.

Furthermore, you may be asked to attend an independent medical assessment to provide an additional report. The report can help to show the current state of your condition. Additionally, the report can provide details on the long-term impact your injuries may have had.

Alongside the above medical evidence, a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) may also be used to value your claim. We have created the table below using figures from the JCG. This can provide examples of the compensation you could claim for different types of injuries.

Please note that the first entry of this table has not been taken from the JCG.

InjurySeverityAward Guideline
Multiple Serious Injuries + Special DamagesSevereUp to £1,000,000+
HeadVery Severe£344,150 to £493,000
HeadModerately Severe£267,340 to £344,150
BackSevere (i)£111,150 to £196,450
BackModerate (ii)£15,260 to £33,880
EarComplete Hearing Loss£110,750 to £133,810
ArmSubstantial, Permanent Disability£47,810 to £73,050
LegSevere - Serious Compound/Comminuted Fractures£47,840 to £66,920
AnkleModestUp to £16,770
ChestResidual Lung Damage£6,500 to £15,370

However, please call our team if your injury isn’t listed or you have any questions about how compensation may be calculated and what success fee could apply.

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What Else Can You Claim For?

In addition, you can seek compensation for any financial losses under special damages. For instance, if you were unable to work for a few months due to your injury. In this instance, you could be compensated for any loss of earnings during this period of time.

Furthermore, other types of special damages might include:

  • Care costs for yourself or someone else you care for, e.g. a child, sibling or elderly parent
  • Medical expenses, e.g. counselling, medication or physical aids such as walking sticks
  • Travel expenses, e.g. taxis or public transport to and from hospital appointments

However, it’s important to note that you will need to provide evidence that these losses occurred. For instance, evidence in the form of receipts, invoices or pay slips which may be requested to support your claim.

For more information on other financial losses you may be able to seek compensation for, speak to a member of our team.

Do Success Fees Apply To Future Loss Of Earnings?

The success fee in a personal injury claim does not apply to future loss of earnings.

A future loss of earnings might be claimed for when your earning capacity is likely to be negatively affected for the rest of your life as a result of your injury.

In order to calculate this loss, personal injury solicitors use evidence to determine how you will not earn the same in future as you would have done without being injured.

As with proving any type of financial loss, you will need to provide evidence to help your solicitors work out your future losses. For example, a pay slip and bank statement can be used to prove a future loss of earnings.

If you have any questions about success fees, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our advisors work around the clock and are available to answer any questions free of charge.

Furthermore, you could be connected to our solicitors on the basis of a No Win No Fee.

Make A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claim

Now that you know more about success fees in personal injury claims, you might be interested in getting help with the claims process from one of our expert personal injury solicitors. By offering their clients a Conditional Fee Agreement, as we discussed earlier in this guide, they work on a No Win No Fee basis.

One of the benefits of working with a personal injury solicitor under a No Win No Fee agreement is that you generally don’t need to pay them an upfront fee to start working on the case. Likewise, if your personal injury claim fails, you won’t need to pay your solicitor for their work. If you succeed in making a compensation claim, then your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation, as we discussed earlier.

Contact Our Team

Working with personal injury solicitors can come with many benefits. Contact one of our advisors today to learn more about these benefits, or to find out if you could be eligible to claim compensation. They can also give you more information on success fees in personal injury claims.

To get started:

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Learn More About Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims

If you’d like to learn more about success fees in personal injury claims, we’ve included some helpful guides below:

We have lots more guides on which you can browse below: 

Thank you for reading our guide on the success fees in personal injury claims. We hope you found it informative. If you have any questions, please get in touch.