Once we have crossed over the first hurdle of establishing that the other party is to blame for your work related injury it is then for us to obtain a medical report which will enable us to value your personal injury claim.
Valuing a work related injury claim is not an exact science, there are no set figures as such and a number of factors are taken into account to allow us to accurately assess the value of your claim. The nature of the injury, the severity of the injury and how long it takes you to fully recover is taken into account. Also other Factors such as did the injury prevent you from working and if so for how long? Did the injury prevent you from carrying out any of your usual day-to-day activities or hobbies? The greater the impact the work related injury has had on your life and more your claim will be worth.
When we think of personal injury we think of broken bones and bruises but the psychological element must also be looked into. Have you suffered loss of sleep due to nightmares or experienced flashbacks? Minor emotional symptoms can also effect the value of a claim such as travel anxiety or nervousness.
Although we look at what Judges are awarding in cases with similar work related injuries we, as Solicitors, are also guided by what is known as the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines. The aim of these guidelines is to report on awards made by Courts in England and Wales. These guidelines are used by both Solicitors and Judges when valuing work related injury compensation claims and are updated every year.
These guidelines form a book of different types of personal injury giving a financial bracket of awards for each particular injury. These brackets form the amount of compensation the injury is likely to achieve or should be worth. For example a minor back injury such as a sprain or soft tissue injuries where full recovery takes place within 2 years will be valued up to £5,000. Therefore if you have sustained a minor work related back injury in which your symptoms resolve within that time scale it is unlikely your claim will be worth more than £5,000. A minor back injury taking up to 5 years will achieve an award between £5,000 and £8,000.
Some of the brackets can be quite far apart and this is where Solicitors and Judges take into account factors other than the work related injury itself to assist them in deciding how much compensation the client should receive. If you have been left with scarring, is the scarring permanent, is it visible from a distance and where on the body is the scar? Factors such as whether the client is male or female and age are also taken into account. The scarring may also be so severe as to cause psychological symptoms such as self-consciousness and embarrassment. If the injury is physical such as a fractured ankle, has it been necessary for the client to undergo physiotherapy treatment? Was the client particularly active prior to the accident but is now unable to attend the gym or go running?
Numerous elements of a client’s life are taken into account, no matter how big or small. It is therefore important that clients inform the medical expert just how the accident and the injury has effected their day-to-day life as this will be important when the time comes for their claim to be valued.
