Injury at work compensation – what should you expect?

If injured at work, you have the right to claim

Injuries at work occur frequently, and more often than you would imagine, with over 500,000 non-fatal injuries at work occurring in the UK alone each year.

As someone who has been injured in the workplace, it is important for you to know you are entitled to claim for the impact of the injury and its effect on your daily activities; from how it has affected your working life and your daily social life.

How long do you have to make a claim for an employer’s negligence?

The most common claim from an injury at work is due to employer negligence, meaning the employer has failed to acknowledge and solve health and safety issues within the working environment, resulting in hazardous working conditions. Furthermore, the employer might also not have a standard health and safety practice within its company policy, meaning you as the employee are at risk at the work place.

However, as with any claim, there is a time limit to which you can make a legal case for compensation from an injury at work. This is three years; meaning you must make the claim within three years of the injury occurring. If you are under 18 years of age, the three-year time limit starts from the day of your 18th birthday.

There are some exceptional instances in which a court might extend this period depending on the circumstances.

How much can you claim for an injury at work?

With each injury at work being different from the other, no compensation amount will be the same as the next. However, there are guidelines that the courts follow which look at the severity of the injury and it’s resulting impact on the lifestyle of the injured employee.

By impact we mean whether there are any lasting effects of the injury and how this may affect your social life. For example, a minor injury of a nose break with full recovery can result in a compensation claim between £1,360 – £2,010. In comparison, a loss of a back tooth can result in a compensation claim between £870 – £1,360 per tooth damaged or lost. Hand injuries can be as low as £730, but if severe enough, can reach over £160,000.00.

Conversely, a serious injury resulting in long-term brain damage would result in the highest compensation with a maximum pay out of over £322,000.00. Compensation for a serious injury can result in millions of pounds made up of loss of earnings, future care and treatment, rehabilitation and adaptations to the home and more.

Depending on where the injury occurs on the body and the resulting impact to recovery, the claim varies; here are a few examples:

Head injures	threshold - £1,760 - £322,060.00
Eye injures	threshold - £1,760 - £322,060.00
Ear injuries	threshold - £5,870 - £112,000.00
Face structure injuries	threshold - £1,360 - £36,310
Teeth injuries (per tooth)	threshold - £870 - £1,360
Teeth injuries	threshold - £1,760 - £30,360
Neck injuries	threshold - £1,950 - £118,240
Shoulder injuries	threshold - £1,950 - £38,280
Arm injuries	threshold - £5,280 - £191,950.00
Elbow injuries	threshold - £10,040 - £25,510
Wrist injuries	threshold - £2,810 - £47,720
Hand injuries	threshold - £730 - £160,600
Finger injuries	threshold - £0 - £72,330
Vibration white Finger	£2,390 - £30,630
Back injuries	threshold - £1,950 - £128,320
Chest/lung injury	threshold - £1,750 – £108,370
Asthma injury	threshold - £4,110 - £104,370
Asbestos injury	threshold - £12,020 - £100,350
Pelvis/hip injury	threshold - £3,150 - £104,370
Leg injury	threshold - £22,130 - £214,350
Knee injury	threshold - £10,960 - £76,690
Ankle injury	threshold – £10,960 - £55,560
Achilles injury	threshold - £5,800 - £30,360
Foot injury	threshold - £10,960 - £160,600
Toe injury	threshold - £7,650 - £44,710

What impacts your injury at work compensation amount?

Before you begin to use online calculators, and the above figures to determine your injury compensation, it is imperative that a disclaimer is given that these figures aren’t indicative to your specific injury. You will require both a legal professional to review your claim, case material and information, along with medical professional statements before a full compensation claim can be given or claimed for.

Furthermore, there are various conditions that can impact your compensation amount. A few of these are:

The severity of your injury – as already mentioned, the threshold of the claim within which you are situated is dependent on the severity of your injury.

Where on the body the injury occurred? – again, the threshold varies depending on where the injury has occurred on your body, and how that hinders/impacts your daily lifestyle.

Your employment – depending on whether you can return to work and how soon impacts the compensation amount.

Loss of earnings – as expected, you have the right to claim back loss of earnings as part of the injury at work claim.

Expenses – many do not know this, but you can total up your out-of-pocket expenses you have incurred that you would otherwise have not incurred, including visits, physiotherapy, and hospital visits as part of your compensation claim. Please be aware you are not automatically entitled to re-imbursement of these expenses, but you can make a claim for them.

Medical assistance – should the injury result in you needing professional medical assistance on a regular basis, you may be able to include this in your compensation claim.

Rehab and future care and treatment – your rehabilitation requirements and your future care and treatment may also impact on the amount of compensation you can claim.

Ensuring you claim for what’s needed

When issuing an injury at work claim, always ensure you see an injury at work specialist. It’s important that you see a solicitor that specialises in these types of claim, and not one that also does these claims, as specialist solicitors focusing on this as a core area will have a greater knowledge of what can be and should be included in the compensation claim.