Personal Injury: What is my claim for compensation worth?

Once a claim has been undertaken by your personal injury solicitor they will begin gathering all the required medical and financial evidence to offer a preliminary view on value and compensation.

This will involve the following:

Medical records and expert reports

Your personal injury solicitor will request copies of your medical records, once received they will review these and discuss the injuries you have sustained. Once the main injuries have been narrowed down your solicitor will instruct a medical expert who will assess your injuries, the impact on your life and work and your future prognosis, and will draft an independent expert report explaining their findings.

This report may indicate that you will require future re-appointment once your injuries have developed over time and/or indicate that you require further expert input from a different discipline to examine other injuries you have sustained which are outside their area of expertise.

Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity (PSLA)

Your solicitor will also use the above records and expert reports to assess the likely value of your injury. This will be assessed throughout your claim and is likely to change depending on your prognosis and recovery (or lack thereof).

Loss of earnings

If you have been required to take time off work due to your injuries this will be logged by your solicitor. They will require copies of your payslips and employment contract amongst other paperwork. If your medical experts indicate that you will be unable to work in the longer or are now classified as disabled this will be accommodated for by your solicitor.

Care

If you are now unable to care for yourself due to your injuries it may be that you require professional care to manage day to day life or you may require separate external assistance which you did not require before your accident, for example, gardener or cleaner. This care requirement also changes depending on your injury development.

Summary

Your personal injury solicitor will assess the above factors (and others which are claim dependant) in the early stages and give a preliminary estimate of your claims value. Claimants should be aware that, as detailed above, this is very likely to change depending on your injury and recovery.

How we can help you with private rehabilitation and a claim for compensation

At Thatcher + Hallam LLP we ensure that our personal injury clients are updated regularly on the likely value of their claim and make every effort to ensure that any Claimant claim is sought at full value.

The personal injury team of Thatcher + Hallam is on hand to assist, so please do get in contact to discuss.