How To Make A Successful Minor Personal Injury Claim
By Megan Black. Last Updated 25th August 2023. This guide will examine the procedures for a minor personal injury claim for compensation. If you have experienced a minor injury that was not your fault, can you claim for minor injuries? Yes, in most circumstances you could claim for a minor injury as long as the injury qualifies for compensation. If you are unsure whether your minor injury means compensation is possible why not continue to read our guide?
Minor Personal Injury Claim Guide
Examples of minor injuries you could possibly claim compensation for include burns, scalds, soft tissue injuries and fractures. If you are thinking of making a personal injury claim for a minor injury, don’t hesitate to contact Legal Expert today. Our consultants can provide you with free legal advice about making an accident claim for a minor injury. And we can assign a solicitor to handle your minor injury claim if it is valid.
Call us today on 0800 073 8804 to begin your minor injury claim. Or you can start the process online via LegalExpert.co.uk.
Select A Section
- What Is A Minor Personal Injury Claim?
- The Importance Of Proving Negligence For A Minor Personal Injury Claim
- What Are Examples Of Minor Injuries?
- Could A Minor Injury Cause Permanent Damage?
- Minor Injury Claim – How Much Compensation You Could Claim?
- What Makes Up A Settlement For A Minor Injury?
- Steps To Take After Suffering A Minor Injury
- Minor Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- More Information On Claiming Compensation For Minor Injuries
What Is A Minor Personal Injury Claim?
A minor injury is an injury that is not critical or life-threatening. But a minor injury will still require medical treatment. Contrary to popular opinion, experiencing a minor injury can significantly impact a person’s quality of life. For example, if a patient suffers a broken wrist, this injury can be debilitating and painful.
When we think of people claiming compensation for injuries, we may think of people who have experienced severe or life-changing injuries. However, people who have experienced minor injuries may still find they experience undue pain, suffering and loss of amenity. What’s more, the injured person may experience financial difficulty because of their injuries. So, that is why minor personal injury claims are possible.
You may be able to claim compensation for a minor injury at work or a minor injury caused in a public place. The important thing is the accident that caused the minor injury must have happened as a result of negligence. Those responsible for the negligence must have owed you a duty of care.
Legal Expert can provide you with a No Win No Fee solicitor to handle your claim if it is valid. To begin your claim for personal injury compensation, please get in touch with Legal Expert today.
The Importance Of Proving Negligence For A Minor Personal Injury Claim
To make a successful minor personal injury claim, you will need to prove that the injuries were not your fault. Firstly, you must provide evidence that the defendant owed you a duty of care. And that the defendant acted in a negligent manner, which breached their duty of care. Furthermore, you need to prove that the accident caused your injuries. This can all be achieved through evidence.
How long do you have to claim compensation for your injuries? Under the Limitation Act 1980, claimants have three years in which to begin their injury claim. The personal injury claim time limit begins on the date of the accident or the date that the injuries are diagnosed. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, if a child below 18 is injured, they can begin the personal injury claims process up to 3 years after their 18th birthday. A litigation friend can make it on their behalf while they are under 18.
What Are Examples Of Minor Injuries?
Let’s look at some examples of minor injuries, which you could claim compensation for:
- Burns (minor) or scalds
- Broken nose
- Lacerations
- Broken bones or fractured bones
- Minor head injuries
- Soft tissue injuries such as sprains or strains
If you have a minor injury, you can have your injuries treated in a Minor Injuries Unit in a hospital. Or you can visit an NHS walk-in centre.
Could A Minor Injury Cause Permanent Damage?
Patients with minor injuries should take them seriously. Indeed, if a medical practitioner does not treat a minor injury, the patient’s condition can worsen. Moreover, a patient can experience permanent injuries if they do not receive the correct treatment.
For example, a nurse should clean and dress a patient’s wounds to stop the wound from becoming infected.
Signs of a wound infection include the following:
- The patient has a high temperature and feels generally unwell
- The skin surrounding the wound feels warm and appears red and swollen
- And the wound emits unsightly pus or discharge
Similarly, a patient can suffer complications if their broken or fractured bone is not treated properly. Complications from a break or fracture can include the following:
- The patient can develop arthritis, affecting their mobility
- The patient can suffer from compartment syndrome
- Or the patient may experience permanent damage to the blood vessels, nerves or muscles
- Moreover, a fractured bone that is left untreated can cause disability, deformity and poor mobility.
Minor Injury Claim – How Much Compensation You Could Claim?
You can use our personal injury compensation calculator to gain insight into how compensation can be awarded in a minor injury claim. The injury valuations in our calculator come from compensation awards from previous court claims. They are taken from a document called the Judicial College Guidelines.
We have created a table featuring a few examples to show you how compensation can be awarded in a leg, torso or minor head injury claim.
| Nature of the injury | Severity | Possible Award | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ankle Injury | Modest | £7,270 to £12,590 |
Less serious and modest ankle injuries such as a sprain, a ligament injury or an undisplaced bone fracture. |
| Ankle Injury | Moderate | £12,590 to £21,070 | Moderate injuries of the ankle joint incuding (but not limited to) ligament injuries, breaks or fractures or other injuries only causing less serious forms of disabiities. |
| Knee Injury | Moderate (1) | £14,840 to £26,190 | As well as compensating people for new injuries, this bracket may also include circumstances where an existing injury is made worse or where symptoms are accelerated. |
| Knee Injury | Moderate (2) | Up to £13,740 | Knee injuries including; lacerations, twisting, or bruising injuries. |
| Back Injury | Minor (1) | £7,890 to £12,510 | Recovery is made within two and five years. |
| Achilles Tendon | (d) Minor | £7,270 to £12,590 |
A twist or turn of the ankle which causes some tendon damage and creates the feeling of being unstable. |
| Facial Disfigurement | Trivial Scarring | £1,710 to £3,530 | The effect of the scarring is only minor. |
| Head or Brain Injury | Minor | £2,210 to £12,770 | How much your settlement will be worth is based on how severe the injury is, how long it takes to recover, if there are any continuing symptoms. |
| Psychiatric Damage | Less Severe | £1,540 to £5,86 | Settlements take account of the effects of the damage on the person and by how much their daily life has been affected. |
| Eye Injury | Minor | £3,950 to £8,730 | Injuries such as being struck in the eye or being exposed to smoke. |
Our compensation table only shows compensation in the form of general damages. We go into more detail about what this means in the following section.
It is important to remember that these figures are not guarantees of what you would receive for suffering from a similar injury. Compensation is awarded on a claim-by-claim basis and is determined by an examination of how an injury has specifically affected a person.
You can reach out to one of our advisers for more information about how your injuries may be valued, or for free legal advice on how to make an injury claim.
What Makes Up A Settlement For A Minor Injury?
If your accident claim is successful, you will receive general damages. General damages compensate for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity your minor injuries have caused you. Moreover, you may also be given special damages compensation. Being injured can mean that you have unexpected expenses to pay. Your special damages payout will reimburse you for any financial losses associated with your injuries.
Here are some examples of special damages for a minor injury:
- Medical expenses, including the cost of physiotherapy if needed
- Reimbursement for loss of earnings, if you have had to take time off work to recover from your injuries
- Travel expenses, such as the cost of travelling to a Minor Injuries Unit
- Care expenses, including compensation for a friend or relative who has cared for you
Steps To Take After Suffering A Minor Injury
Has another party’s negligence caused you to suffer a minor injury? You can do the following after your accident to collect evidence to support your minor personal injury claim.
- If you are injured in a venue or workplace, please report the accident to a manager. Make sure the accident is recorded accurately in the accident log book.
- Keep the receipts of anything you buy relating to the injury. You may be able to claim back these costs as special damages. And the receipts may be used as evidence.
- Take photographs of your injuries if possible. And take photographs of the hazard that caused your injuries, if you can.
- Ask eyewitnesses for their details.
- Please get the medical treatment you need, for the benefit of your long term health. In addition, your medical records will be used to support your personal injury claim.
- And finally, contact Legal Expert to begin your personal injury claim
Minor Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
One of our No Win No Fee solicitors may be able to help with with your claim, provided it is valid. There are various benefits to working with a solicitor. For example, they could help you with gathering evidence, and negotiating your minor injury claim settlement.
Furthermore, they may offer you a specific type of No Win No Fee arrangement, known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under this arrangement, you will not be required to pay the solicitor working on your minor injury claim any upfront or ongoing service fees. Additionally, you will not need to pay them for the work they have provided if your claim is unsuccessful.
Should your claim be a success, you will have to pay your solicitor a success fee. This fee is deducted from your compensation settlement and is a legally capped percentage.
To receive free advice for your personal injury claim, you can contact our team of advisors. They can offer you a free valuation of your claim and potentially connect you with one of our expert solicitors.
To speak to a member of our team, you can:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online.
- Use our live chat.
More Information On Claiming Compensation For Minor Injuries
Thank you for reading our guide to making a minor injury compensation claim. Please feel free to look at these resources, to learn more about claiming compensation for a minor injury.
- How Much Compensation Can I Claim For An Accident In An Office? – A guide to claiming compensation for injuries incurred in an office environment.
- How Much Compensation Can I Claim For A Pub Or Bar Accident? – A guide to making a compensation claim for an accident caused by unsafe conditions in a pub or bar.
- An NHS guide to broken finger or thumb injuries.
- A guide to whiplash injuries, from the NHS.
- Find NHS walk-in centre services near you.
Thank you for reading our minor personal injury claims guide.
Get advice on claiming for injuries caused by trapped fingers in a door. Learn more with our guide.
