Mackrell & Thomas Solicitors are specialist no win no fee solicitors based in Liverpool and we use our expertise in dealing with personal injury claims for over 30 years to maximise the personal injury compensation paid to our clients.
How Personal Injury Compensation is calculated
Personal injury compensation is made up of two elements:
- General Damages – compensation for your pain and suffering
- Special Damages – compensation for any expenses or losses due to the accident
General damages includes the amount of pain and suffering the claimant has gone through as a result of the injury. However, two people may have had similar injuries but experience the pain very differently, therefore it isnt an easy task to measure pain and suffering, as people have different pain thresholds.
Special damages are awarded to make sure the victim of a personal injury is compensated financially for any out of pocket expenses. This is to ensure the victim is in the position they were, both financially and medically, before the injury occurred.
Special damages can cover the following:
- Medical expenses
- Medical care
- Prescription costs
- Rehabilitation costs
- Physiotherapy
- Home adaptation costs
- Care and assistance
- Home help
- Loss of earnings and loss of any future earnings
- Travel costs
A questionnaire should be completed to provide as much information as possible and all receipts, invoices and other documents in support of the out of pocket expenses you wish to claim. It is often easier to recover specific items if you can produce evidence that the expense has been incurred.
You can keep topping up this information during the claim, and before any settlement negotiations are started we will send you for approval a ‘Schedule of Special Damages’ setting out all the items that you wish to claim.
This includes wages that you have already lost and, if appropriate, income that you might have received in the future, but will not now do so because of the accident. We can normally calculate your losses by obtaining details from your employer of all money paid to you for a 13 week period prior to the accident and since the accident.
If your employer has paid you anything while you were off work, such as contractual sick pay (but not Statutory Sick Pay) and your employment contact requires you to reimburse this, we will claim it on your behalf so you can reimburse your employer from your compensation.
Calculating your anticipated future loss of earnings can be more difficult, but is usually only necessary if your injuries are very severe. In such cases we might need to assess the level of any pay increases, promotion prospects and other benefits (eg pension) that you would likely have enjoyed if the accident had not happened.
Travel costs
You can claim either the fare paid (eg for bus, train or taxi) or at the rate of 45p per mile and any parking fee, for journeys taken because of the accident, for example:
- Visits to your GP, hospital or other medical practitioner providing treatment
- Attending the appointment with the medical expert
- Other journeys, but you will need to state why each one was necessary
- Journeys by close relatives to visit you in hospital
Medical Costs
Examples of medical costs could include:
- Hospital charges for emergency treatment
- Prescription charges and the cost of non-prescription items eg, pain killers
- Surgical supports, bandages, tubigrips, etc
- Treatment provided by physiotherapists, or other practitioners on a private basis
- The cost of treatment in a private hospital may also be recovered if NHS waiting list is too long
- Care provided by Social Services or a private agency
- Care provided by family or friends, claimed at an hourly rate (eg helping you with cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene, etc)
Other Costs
Examples of other costs could include:
- Repair or replacement costs for damaged clothing, jewellery or other belongings
- Items bought because of the injuries, eg larger clothes or shoes whilst in plaster
- Additional utilities costs because you had to spend more time at home than normal
- Additional telephone and postal costs in contacting people involved in the claim
- Vehicle repair or storage costs and any policy excess, following a car accident
- Costs incurred in employing others to undertake domestic cleaning, decorating, general DIY, gardening, etc that you would have dealt with yourself but were unable to because of your injuries
- Sums lost in having to cancel activities or holidays
- Costs incurred in obtaining specialised equipment or in adapting your home or car if your injuries were particularly severe
Every personal injury claim is different
Each and every personal injury claim is different and there are several factors that can affect the value of the claim, these include:
- Your gender
- Age
- Length of time to recover
- Severity of injury
- Whether treatment such as physiotherapy was required
There are many factors that will determine the amount of compensation for a personal injury, Mackrell & Thomas will be able to give full advice on the value of your personal injury claim once a medical report is obtained. But for an idea about how much compensation you may be able to claim for your injury please see Personal Injury Compensation: How Much?
Start your Claim today
For a free Personal Injury Claim Assessment, call Mackrell & Thomas Solicitors on 0800 0730160, or visit one of our Liverpool offices in Page Moss, Old Swan or Norris Green. Alternatively, you could email us at enquiries@mackrellandthomas.com and a Personal Injury Claim Solicitor will contact you at a suitable time.
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