What Are Success Fees In Personal Injury Claims And How Are They Calculated?
By Lewis Cobain. Last Updated 6th February 2024. If you’re looking to make a compensation claim, you may be here to learn more about personal injury claims, No Win No Fee agreements, and the success fees associated with them.
When hiring a solicitor under a No Win No Fee agreement, known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) you’re required to pay a success fee to them to cover their fees if the claim wins. In this guide, we explain what a success fee is, how much you may have to pay, and how our No Win No Fee solicitors can help you take legal action.
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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:
- Road traffic accidents
- Accidents at work
- Accidents in public places such as a restaurant or a park
- Fatal accident claims
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.
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.
| Injury | Details | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries + Special Damages | Financial losses, such as lost earnings and the cost of prescriptions, combined with multiple serious injuries. | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Very Severe Head Injury | There is a need for full time nursing care, as the claimant suffers double incontinence, little to no language function, and no meaningful response to their surroundings. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Moderately Severe Head Injury | There is a very serious disability that can either be physical or cognitive, that comes with a change in personality, a risk of epilepsy, and a need for constant care. | £219,070 to £282,010 |
| Severe Back Injury (i) | This bracket contains the most severe injuries to the back, including damage to the nerve root and injuries to the spinal cord that cause severe consequences and disability not normally found in back injuries. | £91,090 to £160,980 |
| Moderate Back Injury (ii) | Common injuries such as backache caused by disturbed muscles and ligaments and soft tissue that cause or exacerbate long-term conditions. | £12,510 to £27,760 |
| Ear | Complete loss of hearing in both ears. | £90,750 to £109,650 |
| Chest | Residual damage to the lungs through inhaling toxic fumes or smoke. | £5,320 to £12,590 |
| Arm | A serious fracture to the forearm that causes permanent disability. | £39,170 to £59,860 |
| Leg | Severe: (iii) A serious compound fracture that results in ongoing issues. | £39,200 to £54,830 |
| Ankle | A modest injury such as an undisplaced fracture. | Up to £13,740 |
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.
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 working with 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:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online
- Use the live chat feature
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:
- See the government guide on claiming compensation after an accident.
- Visit the NHS website if you require any medical advice.
- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) has useful information on preventing accidents.
We have lots more guides on which you can browse below:
- A guide to the claims process
- Climbing wall activity accident claims
- Claiming compensation for quad bike injuries
- Activity centre injuries – how to claim compensation
- Claiming compensation for a mountain bike injury
- How does the personal injury claim process work?
- Missing tile accident claims
- How many claims go to court?
- Special damages
- CCTV footage in personal injury cases
- Claiming compensation for injuries caused by faulty furniture
- How to claim against your employer
- Compensation tables for personal injury
- Try our injury claims calculator
- Multi-story car park accident claims
- The Pre-Action Protocols in personal injury
- How much compensation can you get for a personal injury claim?
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.
