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What Is The Personal Injury Claims Process?

If you have never made a compensation claim, you could be unsure or worried about what is involved. This guide about the personal injury claims process will aim to answer any questions you have so you can confidently decide on your course of action.

Key Points For The Personal Injury Claims Process

  • To claim compensation, you need to show that someone else was at fault
  • Compensation is affected by the injuries suffered and the amount of claimable financial losses
  • You generally have 3 years to start a personal injury claim
  • It may be possible to get an interim payment before your case concludes
  • Our expert personal injury solicitors can help you on a No Win No Fee basis

For fee advice about personal injury claims, you can:

A judge decides a case as part of the personal injury claims process.

Jump To A Section

  1. What Is The Personal Injury Claims Process?
  2. Find Out Who Was Responsible
  3. Gather Evidence To Support Your Claim
  4. Have Your Injuries Assessed By A Professional
  5. Medical Care And Rehabilitation
  6. Negotiate A Compensation Settlement
  7. Find Out If One Of Our No Win No Fee Solicitors Could Help You Through The Personal Injury Claims Process
  8. Learn More About The Personal Injury Claims Process

What Is The Personal Injury Claims Process?

The personal injury claims process covers the beginning of a claim until its conclusion. Depending on how the personal injury occurred, different rules should be followed. Certain pre-action protocols dictate how the parties to a dispute should behave during the claims process. These protocols can include steps they should take, time frames for responses, and encouragement of the exchange of information.

There is a specific Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims, but this should not be used if any of the other following protocols apply:

Other protocols cover other areas and other ways that you could suffer personal injury. You do not need to use a solicitor to claim compensation. Still, they will have a deep understanding of the personal injury claims process and also the Pre-Action Protocols above and you may find that their help is extremely useful.

Should court proceedings be necessary, there are further extensive rules, known as the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), that should be followed. However, many cases do not need court proceedings, which we will cover later in this guide. Again, an expert solicitor could help ensure that all the necessary rules are followed should a court case become necessary.

We offer a free case assessment, and our solicitors have years of experience in all areas of personal injury compensation. Contact us today if you need our help.

Find Out Who Was Responsible

The first step in the personal injury claims process is to find out who is responsible for your injury. To make a successful claim for injury compensation, you must show three things:

  • You were owed a duty
  • That this duty was breached
  • You suffered injury as a result

You are owed a duty in many scenarios, and here are some common examples:

If someone has caused your injury, discuss this with our advisors today.

Gather Evidence To Support Your Claim

In personal injury claims, you must have evidence to prove that the third party was responsible for your injuries. Here are some examples of evidence that may support your claim:

  • CCTV/dashcam footage of your accident
  • Photographs of your injuries and the accident scene
  • A copy of the accident report book
  • Witness contact details so that a statement can be taken from them later
  • Medical documents

For help obtaining evidence, contact our helpful team today.

Have Your Injuries Assessed By A Professional

Part of the personal injury claims process can include having your injuries assessed by an independent medical professional. This would produce a report about your injuries and how long they are expected to last. It could make recommendations about potential rehabilitation that you may need, and we will cover that in the next section. The report will also be an important piece of evidence when valuing your claim.

The type of medical professional you see will be determined by the injuries you suffer. All appointments will be as local as possible and also at a convenient time for you. You can seek (or may have already sought) medical assistance yourself by visiting A&E or your local GP. However, you will still likely have to see somebody independent to produce a medical report.

If you have any more questions about medical examinations, reach out to our team.

Medical Care And Rehabilitation

After a medical professional has checked your injuries, they may recommend further medical care and/or rehabilitation. Not all injuries require this, but depending on the extent of your injuries, it may be important for your recovery. If you need such treatment, this will be taken into consideration when the legal team calculates your compensation.

It could also be the case that this rehabilitation could be arranged during the life of your case. The other side may fund this rehabilitation with an interim payment, but only under certain conditions.

What Is An Interim Payment?

An interim payment is when you receive some of your personal injury compensation before your case finishes. As discussed above, this can include payment for rehabilitation needs such as physiotherapy but cover other things such as past loss of earnings.

There are steps to get an interim payment written into some of the Pre-Action Protocols, and in general, the other side would need to have accepted fault for the accident. You will usually have to provide medical evidence in support of your injuries and also that the medical evidence states that rehabilitation is needed.

Any amounts received by way of interim payment would have to be accounted for at the end of the claim. So, if you had a £1,000 interim payment, this figure would come off the end settlement to reflect that you had already been paid this amount.

If you feel like you need rehabilitation or would like an interim payment, then the best thing you can do is start the personal injury claims process as soon as possible. Reach out to an advisor today, and they can discuss these things with you further.

Negotiate A Compensation Settlement

As the personal injury claims process progresses, the parties will be encouraged to negotiate a fair settlement without a court case. Compensation in these types of claims can be divided into two categories: general damages and special damages.

General damages compensate you for your injuries resulting from your accident. This also includes psychological suffering. The legal team responsible for calculating your general damages may review your medical reports alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document contains a list of injuries and suggested compensation brackets for them. They are not guaranteed figures but can be used as guidelines.

Special damages compensate you for the financial losses you suffered after your accident. This is because such losses would not have occurred but for the accident. You can only claim special damages if you sustained injuries and you are claiming general damages. Some examples of financial losses include:

  • Loss of income
  • Loss of workplace benefits
  • Medical/travel expenses
  • Other expenses related to your injury/recovery

You must provide evidence of your special losses, such as:

  • Income documents
  • Bank/credit statement
  • Medical/travel bills
  • Other payment receipts

Will My Claim Go To Court?

Most cases settle without the need for court proceedings, which is one of the goals of the Pre-Action Protocols we discussed above. Even if proceedings are necessary, there is still a chance the case will settle before a trial.

If the other side accepts fault for the accident, it is highly unlikely that you would be required to attend court, even if the compensation could not be agreed upon before then. This is not a guarantee, though, and every case has unique features and factors. In general, the larger the compensation claim and the more complex or contested the issues, the more likely court proceedings will be needed.

It is important to note that personal injury claims have a time limit to begin. In general, you must have started your case at court within three years of the accident date as set out in the Limitation Act 1980, although there are some exceptions to this rule.

Our solicitors are experts in personal injury cases and can help you provide strong evidence that will give you a good chance of settling your case without the need for court proceedings.

Why not take advantage of our free case assessment and find out if you may have an eligible claim?

Find Out If One Of Our No Win No Fee Solicitors Could Help You Through The Personal Injury Claims Process

If you want to go through the personal injury claims process, one of our solicitors may be able to support you. If you meet the eligibility criteria, they can use their expertise to walk you through the claim process and help you claim compensation for your injuries and losses.

They may help you on a No Win No Fee basis by offering you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under a CFA:

  • You have no upfront or ongoing solicitor costs
  • Only in successful cases will a legally capped percentage of the compensation be used to pay our solicitor’s success fee.
  • You will have no payments to make for our solicitor’s work if your claim is unsuccessful.

A solicitor who is an expert in the personal injury claims process sits at a desk.

Contact Us Today

For more information or to issue a personal injury claim:

Learn More About The Personal Injury Claims Process

If you want to know more about personal injury claims, you can access the following links:

References:

We hope this guide helped you understand the personal injury claims process.