Area of Injury

What are the different types of personal injury claim?

Personal injuries can have a significant impact on your life, both in the short-term and the long-term. Every personal injury is different, ranging from minor bruising or soft tissue damage, to more serious, life changing injuries.

Personal injuries can affect any area of the body, including the head, back, neck, limbs and internal organs. Below are some common personal injury categories:

How is accident injury compensation structured?

Because there are many types of personal injury claims, the amount of compensation you may receive, also varies. It depends upon factors like the severity and area of injury and the circumstances in which it occurred. Here, we explain how the area of injury can affect the compensation that you might receive.

Compensation is made up of general damages, which cover pain, suffering and loss of amenity, and special damages, which deal with direct financial losses that have been incurred because of your personal injury.

General Damages and the Judicial College Guidelines

The Judicial College is part of the Ministry of Justice. It publishes detailed guidelines that explain how much you might receive in general damages, i.e. compensation to cover the physical and psychological injury you've experienced, and the impact the personal injury has had on your life.

Special Damages

Any direct financial losses you've experienced are called special damages. These include things like medical or treatment, travel costs and adaptations to your home or car. Your solicitor will assess these in addition to the general damages when making your no win no fee claim.

Below we've included some examples of general damages taken from the 17th edition of the Judicial College guidelines that cover different personal injury claim types: 

While this list covers several areas of injury, it's not exhaustive. Don't worry if your injury isn't included: the guidelines are very comprehensive and contain all manner of physical and psychological harm, so your personal injury will be included.

We categorise accident injuries from head to toe. Find out more using the links below:

• Head and brain injury
• Neck injury
• Back injury claims
• Upper body injury claims
• Lower body injury claims

If you'd like to learn more about different types of personal injury claims, or even just want some free advice about your eligibility to make a claim, give us a call on . Our expert personal injury advisors will talk through your circumstances with you confidentially, establishing who's at fault for your injury and whether you can claim compensation.

If you're eligible and decide to make a personal injury compensation claim, we'll put you in touch with one of our specialist no win no fee solicitors. We choose solicitors from a nationwide network of trusted and experienced personal injury law firms who work to the highest ethical standards, so you can be sure you're in safe hands.

How much compensation am I likely to get?

Because every personal injury claim is different, we can't accurately tell you how much compensation you're entitled to at the beginning. As outlined above, the compensation settlement you might receive will depend on how your injury has affected you physically, psychologically and financially. Your no win no fee solicitor will gather all of this information and build your claim, considering how long your recovery may take, and how your personal injury might affect you in the future.

Whilst we can't give you an accurate figure at the beginning, our compensation calculator can give you an idea of how much you might receive in general damages. It doesn't take long: by answering a few simple questions, it will give you an estimate of what you might be able to expect.

With over years_since years of experience in helping people with personal injury claims like yours, you can be sure that our specialist solicitors will give you the best chance of success.

If you qualify to make a claim, your solicitor will be able to give you an accurate valuation after they've collected the evidence and started negotiating with the other side's insurers.

Are there time limits for making a no win no fee personal injury compensation claim?

Ever claim is different, but generally, claims are required to either have been settled within three years, or for court proceedings to have been started. The sooner you start the claim process by getting in touch with us, the better.

Once you speak to our team, we'll take care of everything to ensure that your no win no fee claim is settled, or court proceedings have been started, within the three-year deadline. This period is often referred to as the limitation period.

There are some exceptions to the three-year rule:

• You can claim on behalf of a child at any time before their 18th birthday, as a ‘litigation friend'. Once they reach 18, they then have the usual three years to settle the claim or for court proceedings to start.
• If someone doesn't have the capacity to manage their own case, there are no time limits to claim on their behalf. This is assessed on a case-by-case basis and if they regain capacity at any point after the accident, even briefly, the three-year period starts from that date. This means that the claim must be settled, or court proceedings must be initiated within three years of them regaining capacity.

In most cases, you won't have much involvement in the court process at all, as most claims settle without the need for a final hearing.