Who Could Claim Permanent Injury Compensation?

By John Bowes. Last Updated 26th June 2024. Unfortunately, some accidents could cause permanent injuries. If you’ve been injured in the workplace, in a car accident or due to medical negligence, and you’ve sustained injuries that would not lead to a full recovery, you may be looking to make a permanent injury compensation claim if the accident was caused through a breach in the duty of care owed to you. We are looking at questions frequently asked about permanent injury compensation payouts. But how is permanent injury compensation calculated, and how could you make sure you receive all the compensation you are eligible to claim? This guide explains all you may need to know to make a permanent injury claim for injuries such as loss of bowel and kidney function, a permanent brain injury, or the loss of a limb, for example.

In the sections below, you can read about how such injuries could affect your life, and how to go about claiming compensation for them. We’ll also explain how the personal injury claims process works and explain how a personal injury solicitor could help maximise the compensation you could receive for your claim. If you’d like us to complete a free, no-obligation eligibility check on your case, or would like us to provide you with a personal injury solicitor to assist with your claim, then please don’t hesitate to contact our Legal Expert advisors on 0800 073 8804. We’d be happy to help you

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Select A Section

• Could I Claim Permanent Injury Compensation?
• Permanent Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Permanent Paralysis Injuries
• Loss Of A Limb
• Severe And Permanent Burn Injuries
• Permanent Loss Of Sight
• Permanent Loss Of Hearing
• Loss Of A Tooth Or Several Teeth
• Permanent Organ Damage
• Disfigurement And Scarring
• Calculating Permanent Injury Compensation Amounts
• No Win No Fee Permanent Injury Compensation Payouts
• Essential References

Could I Claim Permanent Injury Compensation?

A permanent injury is an injury that will affect a person for the rest of their life. This could be a mental or physical injury and could involve conditions such as:

• Quadriplegia
• Paralysis
• Severe burn injuries
• Permanent organ damage
• Significant loss of function of a body part
• A traumatic brain injury
• Loss of an arm or leg
• The loss of a hand or finger
• Loss of a foot or toe
• The loss of a tooth or teeth
• Loss of hearing
• PTSD

Whether you have sustained a permanent injury at work, in a car accident, in a public place, or while receiving medical treatment, if it was due to negligence of those who had a duty of care to your health and well being, you could be eligible to claim permanent injury compensation. To do so, you’d have to prove:

1. Someone had a duty of care towards you
2. They breached this duty
3. Their breach of the duty of care towards you caused you to sustain a permanent injury.

In the sections below, we describe some examples of permanent injuries and how they could affect your life. If you have sustained a different type of permanent injury than those mentioned below, we could give you further information about claiming permanent injury compensation over the phone and could assess your case for free. Our team can help assess permanent injury compensation payouts. 

Permanent Traumatic Brain Injuries

If you have sustained a traumatic brain injury, this could lead to you suffering from a range of symptoms for the rest of your life, such as loss of concentration, memory, seizures, personality changes, and vertigo, to name just a few examples. This could affect your ability to work and to enjoy the same quality of life you did before you sustained your injuries.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI), could happen as the result of almost any accident in which your head is subjected to a heavy blow or jolt.

Common causes of TBI could include:

• Physical attacks
• Falls
• Vehicle collisions
• Combat incidents, such as explosions
• Sports injuries

You could also sustain a TBI if your skull is fractured or something penetrates the tissue in your brain. While some brain injuries could be considered mild, and would only affect your brain cells temporarily, others could cause bleeding, bruising, torn tissues and types of physical damage to the brain. In such cases, the effects could be more damaging and could cause permanent loss of cognitive function, as well as affecting other areas of the body. In some cases, a traumatic brain injury could lead to an injured party losing their life.

Claiming compensation for such an injury could involve claiming for ongoing care needs, future loss of earnings, and the pain and suffering caused by your injuries. A personal injury solicitor could help you fight for the maximum compensation possible for your case. If you’re considering claiming on behalf of someone who no longer has the mental or physical capacity to claim for themselves, a personal injury solicitor could help you claim permanent injury compensation for them as a litigation friend. We are experienced at securing permanent injury compensation payouts for people who have suffered TBI’s. 

Permanent Paralysis Injuries

As we mentioned above, some spinal injuries could lead to permanent paralysis. If you are diagnosed with paralysis, this would mean that you would have lost the ability to move some, or all of your body. You could be paralysed in a wide variety of accidents, such as falls from heights, road traffic accidents and workplace accidents. Common causes of paralysis include brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. However, you could also be partially paralysed by a brachial plexus injury or by nerve damage.

If you have been paralysed in an accident that was not your fault, you may be eligible to claim compensation for the suffering and pain you’ve experienced, both mentally and physically. You may also be compensated for the costs of ongoing treatments, such as physiotherapy, mobility aids and more. A good lawyer could help you fight for the compensation that could make dealing with such an injury more bearable.

A Permanent Quadriplegic Injury

Unfortunately, some people who have been paralysed lose the use of both of their arms and legs. This is called quadriplegia and could result in a loss of sexual function, bowel function and more. The causes of quadriplegia could include:

• A car accident
• A fall
• Violent assault
• A botched medical procedure

Those who are diagnosed as being quadriplegic will be reliant on care for the rest of their lives, and this will come at a cost. For an injured party to have the best quality of life possible, they may have to pay for specialist medical treatments, aids and therapies. A compensation claim could not only compensate them for an inability to work because of their injuries but could also pay for the costs of ongoing care.

Loss Of A Limb

The loss of a limb could be another example of a permanent injury. Whether you have suffered the loss of a toe, the loss of a finger, the loss of a leg or an arm, this could significantly impact your life. For example:

• The loss of a toe could lead you to suffer difficulties with walking and balance
• Losing a finger could cause your grip to be impaired
• The loss of a leg could leave you with significant mobility issues
• Losing an arm could lead you to be unable to perform a variety of day to day tasks

All of the injuries above could lead to effects on your ability to work and live as you did before the accident. They could also cause permanent pain. In some cases, phantom limb pain could have a significant effect on mental health as well as the physical health of the injured party.

Claiming permanent injury compensation for the loss of a limb would not resolve the injury you’ve suffered, but it could pay for the therapies, treatments, and aids that could help you to move forward after such an injury.

Severe And Permanent Burn Injuries

A burn injury could be complex to treat and could depend on the substance you were burned by, the thickness of the burns and the surface area affected. All these factors could affect your ability to recover from them. In some cases, severe burn injuries could lead to permanent damage to the skin and unsightly scarring that may not be reversible. It could also, in some cases, lead to permanent damage to the lungs.

Claiming compensation for both the pain and suffering caused by your injuries, as well as any psychological effects of such injuries could be something we could help with. Whether you’ve sustained chemical burns, electrical burns, or sustained burns in a fire accident that was not your fault, our solicitors may be able to get you compensated for your suffering.

Permanent Loss Of Sight

Loss of sight is something that could affect many aspects of a person’s life. Even if someone has lost sight in one eye, this may mean they have problems with balance and performing tasks once done with ease. If you have lost sight in both eyes, this could cause you to require a carer, a guide dog and you may need to make changes to your home in order to continue living independently. It could also have a significant effect on your ability to work and your mental health. Claiming compensation for such a permanent injury, whether it is caused by an accident at work, a road traffic accident, or through clinical negligence, could help you pay for the aids you need, as well as compensating you for the suffering you’ve borne from such an injury.

Permanent Loss Of Hearing

Whether you’ve suffered industrial deafness, or you’ve lost your hearing because of a road accident, workplace accident or an accident in a public place, claiming permanent injury compensation would not restore your hearing. However, it could help you come to terms with your diagnosis and help you move forward with your injuries. It could also help to cover the costs of counselling you may need to come to terms with such an injury.

Loss Of A Tooth Or Several Teeth

A loss of a tooth may not seem like a significant injury when compared to those that mean you’ll never walk again, but they could affect you permanently and significantly. Whether you’ve lost a tooth, or several teeth in a violent attack, due to dental negligence, or due to a work accident or road accident, this could lead to significant pain, as well as the loss of confidence in the way you look.

Not only could permanent injury compensation cover the costs of dental care, such as implants or false teeth, but it could also compensate you for the pain you’ve experienced, and the psychological damage you’ve suffered too.

Permanent Organ Damage

Damage to the internal organs could be serious. In some cases, if you’ve had to have an organ such as a kidney removed, this could lead to permanent effects on your health. Even in cases where the organ is left intact, if its function is affected, you may need treatment for the rest of your life, and your life expectancy may be reduced as a result.

Claiming compensation for permanent organ damage would require you to provide evidence of how the permanent damage could affect the rest of your life. A medical assessment would need to be conducted with an independent medical expert, who could then provide a medical report detailing the long-term effects of your injuries, whether you would be able to return to work with them, what care or medical treatment you’d need going forward, and what effect such an injury could have on your life expectancy. Our experienced solicitors could use this evidence to fight for the maximum compensation possible for your specific injuries.

Disfigurement And Scarring

Whether you’ve been disfigured due to lacerations received in a car accident, physical attack, workplace accident or by way of medical negligence or burn injury, this may affect you emotionally as well as physically. It could also lead to you suffering nerve damage, sensitivity loss and pain.

If you have been affected physically or psychologically by your injuries, permanent injury compensation could pay for the costs of counselling to help you accept and move forward with your injuries, as well as corrective surgery that may not completely eradicate the disfigurement, but could lead to it being easier for you to live with.

Calculating Permanent Injury Compensation Amounts

So, how much permanent damage compensation could you receive if you make a successful claim? Well, the answer to this question can vary depending on a number of factors, including:

• How much evidence you have.
• How severe your injuries are.
• What kind of effects your injuries have had.
• Whether the other party accepts liability.

With that said, most compensation payouts for successful permanent injury claims can contain up to two different heads. The first head, general damages, is awarded to every successful claimant.

This heading of compensation covers the pain and suffering you endure as a result of your injuries. When professionals value permanent injury compensation under this heading, they might use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for help.

The JCG is a document that contains a list of injuries and illnesses alongside guideline compensation amounts. You can find some examples of these below, but keep in mind that these aren’t fixed amounts and the first entry isn’t from the JCG. 

The second heading that you could receive is special damages. This kind of compensation covers the financial losses you experience as a result of your injuries, including the cost of:

• Home adjustments.
• Mobility aids.
• Professional nursing care.
• Lost earnings.
• Braille, sign language, and other accessibility lessons.
• Counselling.
• Childcare.
• Help with cooking and cleaning.
• Cosmetic aids.

These are only a few examples of the kinds of costs that could be covered by special damages.However, you will need to present evidence of them to be able to receive compensation for them. This could include invoices and bank statements, for example.

For more information on what you could receive from a successful permanent damage claim, contact us today.

No Win No Fee Permanent Injury Compensation Payouts

Making a claim with the help of a Legal Expert personal injury solicitor could be done under No Win No Fee payment terms. These types of claim require no fees to be paid upfront or throughout the claim. Instead, you’d be asked to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement. This document would set out how much, in terms of a ‘success fee’ you’d agreed to pay your solicitor from your compensation payout. The success fee is legally capped and is usually a small percentage of your compensation payout. It is only payable if your solicitor gets you compensation. If they don’t, the success fee, would not fall to you to pay.

If you’d like to learn more about how No Win No Fee agreements work, or you’d like us to provide you with a lawyer solicitor under these terms, please call our team and we’ll be glad to help.

Talk To Our Team

We hope this guide helped you learn more about permanent injury compensation payouts. We’re here to help you. You can reach us at any time, by:

• Phone: 0800 073 8804
• E-mail: info@legalexpert.co.uk
• Live Chat Messenger
• Or, through our contact form.

Essential References

• Permanent Injury Allowance NHS – You may be eligible for this benefit if you’ve sustained a permanent injury working for the NHS.
• Personal Independence Payment – You could apply for PIP as well as making a personal injury claim if you’ve been left disabled.
• What’s The Personal Injury Claims Time Limit? – This guide explains how long you may have to make your claim.
• No Win No Fee – This guide explains how to make a No Win No Fee claim and the benefits of doing so.
• Accident At Work? – Claims against employers for accidents at work are covered in this guide.
• Car Accident Claims – Our updated guide contains new information on making a car accident claim.
• Chemical Burn Injury Claims – Our updated guide on how to claim compensation for chemical burn injuries.

Guide By Jefferies

Edited BY Melissa.