Tips On Making A Injury Claim Against Your Employer
By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 11th September 2023. In this guide, we provide tips and guidance on making personal injury claims against employers. If you have been injured at work, you may be able to claim against your employer if it can be established that negligence on their part caused your injuries.
Injury Claims Against Employer
Within this guide, we’ll discuss the potential ways accidents and injuries at work may occur. We’ll also go through the key steps of starting a valid claim against your employer and potential compensation payouts.
Our No Win No Fee solicitors can take on your case for your personal injury claim against your employer. Call our advisors today to receive free advice through a no-obligation consultation where you can ask as many questions as you need to. Call 0800 073 8804 for more information about personal injury claims against employers.
Select a section:
- What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?
- Claiming Compensation For An Accident Caused By Your Employer
- How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim Against My Employer?
- Injuries That Could Lead To Claims Against Your Employer
- How Much Compensation Will I Get From My Employer?
- Accident At Work Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims
What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?
If you suffered a personal injury at work, you may wonder if you are eligible to seek compensation. When you seek an injury payout from your employer, you could do so by making an accident at work claim.
However, when making a claim for an injury at work, you must meet the personal injury claim eligibility requirements. This means you must be able to prove that:
- Your employer owed you a duty of care.
- This was breached.
- You suffered injuries as a result of this breach.
The duty of care that employers owe to their employees is set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). This duty states that employers must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. If you can prove that your injury occurred because your employer didn’t adhere to this duty, you might be entitled to claim compensation.
If you have any questions about how to claim for an injury at work, please speak to an advisor from our team.
Claiming Compensation For An Accident Caused By Your Employer
If you are considering making a work accident claim against your employer, your ability to claim compensation for your accident is intrinsically linked to the concept of negligence.
While the amount of compensation you could receive as the result of your claim depends heavily on the severity and the type of your injury, whether your claim can be considered legitimate depends on how responsible your employer was for your accident. This, in turn, depends on whether the employer acted negligently.
For your employer to act with negligence to instigate personal injury claims against employers, they must have failed to adhere to health and safety standards. The Health and Safety Executive, a UK government agency, essentially governs workplace safety. This, in turn, not only encourages employers to act responsibly but enforces workplace safety legislation.
This duty of care covers measures such as;
- Completing risk assessments of your task,
- Providing training to complete tasks, and
- Clearly defining the limits of your job.
If your employer has failed in any of these responsibilities, they could be considered responsible for any injury resulting. Contact us today to learn more about personal injury claims against employers.
How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim Against My Employer?
Personal injury claims must be started within a certain time limit, or else they may be time-barred. Generally, you will have three years to start a negligence claim against your employer.
According to the Limitations Act 1980, this can either be:
- 3 years from the date of the accident in which you were injured
- 3 years from the date of knowledge
As those under the age of 18 cannot represent themselves in a personal injury claim against their employer, they will not face a time limit to start a claim until they turn 18. Once they turn 18, they will have three years to start their claim. A claim can be started before this time, but a litigation friend will be needed.
There is a similar exception for people who lack the mental capacity to start a claim. The time limit will be indefinitely frozen, but they can be represented at any point by a litigation friend. If they recover, they will have to adhere to the usual time limit.
If you have any more questions regarding beginning a personal injury claim against an employer, reach out to one of our advisers for a free consultation.
Injuries That Could Lead To Claims Against Your Employer
As stated above, when making a personal injury claim, you will need to prove that a breach in the duty of care owed to you caused your injuries. In this section, we look at the potential injuries that could occur when the health and safety legislation isn’t adhered to.
Examples of accidents at work include:
- A broken bone could occur due to poor housekeeping. For example, cluttered walkways or wires trailed across the floor can cause a tripping hazard.
- If your employer fails to provide appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), you could suffer an injury. For example, if you work with an electric table saw, you should be provided with safety goggles to prevent an eye injury.
- Training to carry out your job role should be provided by your employer free of charge. For example, if you work in a kitchen, you need training to show you how to safely release steam to prevent a scalding injury.
If you would like to make a personal injury claim against your employer, you will need to submit supporting evidence. We examine this next.
Call our advisors to learn more about personal injury claims in the UK. They can discuss the accident that caused your injuries and assess whether you have a potential claim.
The Process Of Making A Claim Against Your Employer
When making a personal injury claim, you’ll need to demonstrate that your employer acted negligently and you were injured or suffered harm as a result. Therefore, as part of the personal injury claim process, you should gather as much supporting evidence as possible.
To give you an idea of how to prove a workplace accident claim, we’ve listed a few examples of evidence below:
- You should record details of the incident in your workplace accident book. Any workplace that has more than 10 employees are required to have an accident book by law.
- Collect the contact details of any witnesses who can provide a statement on your behalf.
- If your workplace has CCTV, request the footage.
- Take photographs of your injury and the accident scene, including any hazards that caused you harm.
- Gather medical evidence, such as a diagnosis from a medical professional or your hospital records.
Continue reading to find out what personal injury compensation you could be awarded following an accident at work. Alternatively, get in touch whenever is most convenient for you. We offer free no-obligation legal advice around the clock.
How Much Compensation Will I Get From My Employer?
Following a successful personal injury claim, you will be awarded general damages. This compensates you for the pain you have experienced due to your personal injury at work.
When valuing your claim, a legal professional may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document lists compensation guidelines for different injuries at various severities. For the table below, we have listed some of the amounts stated in the most recent edition of the JCG, published in April 2022.
However, it is important to note that compensation tends to reflect the specific details and circumstances of each claim. The table should only be used as a form of guidance.
| Type of Injury | Severity of Injury | Description of the Injury | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain Damage | Very Severe Brain Damage | How much compensation awarded may be based on what their life expectancy may be, what their limitations are and if they require help with feeding. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Brain Damage | Moderately Severe Brain Damage | The claimant will have a better prognosis than the category above. Compensation is awarded based on the same factors as above. | £219,070 to £282,010 |
| Epilepsy | Established Grand Mal | Single type of injury compensation is awarded for. | £102,000 to £150,110 |
| Back Injuries | Severe | This is the most severe degree of injury to the back. It could affect the spine. | £91,090 to £160,980 |
| Injuries Affecting Sight | Total Loss of One Eye (d) | Where one eye is lost but the other eye is not affected. Compensation may be based on cosmetic appearance and other factors. | £54,830 to £65,710 |
| Chest Injuries | Damage to chest and lung(s) (c) | Chest and lung injuries which leave the claimant with a degree of disability. | £31,310 to £54,830 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderately Severe | The outlook is more positive than the most severe degrees of injury, but these are still very serious types of injury. | £19,070 to £54,830 |
| Shoulder Injuries | Moderate | A common injury such as a frozen shoulder could present as a moderate degree and be awarded a settlement in this range. | £7,890 to £12,770 |
| Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips | Lesser Injuries (i) | Whislt the claimant may have suffered a significant injury, there should be no disability. | £3,950 to £12,590 |
Special Damages For A Personal Injury Claim Against Your Employer
You could also be eligible for special damages. This head of your claim that allows you to recoup the financial losses caused by your injuries.
For example, if your injuries prevent you from working, this could lead to a loss of earnings. In this case, you could potentially recoup these losses under special damages. This heading can also include:
- Travel expenses.
- Childcare costs.
- Prescription costs.
- The cost of a mobility aid.
You must be able to provide evidence of your losses in order to claim them back, so keeping any relevant documents, such as bank statements or receipts, could be beneficial.
Contact our team of advisors today to learn more about how to make a personal injury claim against your employer.
Accident At Work Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims
It may be beneficial to use legal assistance to pursue your claim, though it is not a requirement. If you wish to hire legal help, we recommend seeking accident at work solicitors with years of experience handling similar claims. Their experience may impact the claims process positively, making it easier for you. You may also wish to seek No Win No Fee solicitors.
At Legal Expert, our accident at work solicitors can offer a No Win No Fee arrangement which sets out the conditions of paying for your solicitor’s work. In this type of agreement, you will not pay for your solicitor’s work except if your claim is successful. If your claim is won, a small percentage of your award will be used to settle costs for the solicitor’s work. The percentage that can be taken for this purpose is capped by law to ensure that you retain a majority of your compensation.
You can get free legal advice at an initial consultation which you can do by contacting us in one of the following ways:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Chat with us in real-time using the chatbot feature on the website
- Fill out our online contact form
Other Guides You May Find Helpful
We have lots more guides on personal injury claims 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
- Success fees in personal injury cases
- How many claims go to court?
- Special damages in personal injury claims
- CCTV footage in personal injury cases
- Claiming compensation for injuries caused by faulty furniture
- Compensation tables for personal injury
- Try our personal 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 to claiming against an employer. We hope you now know more about how personal injury claims against employers work.
