This guide will explain how child injury claims work. It’s normal for children to fall or bump into things and hurt themselves. These little accidents are usually nobody’s fault and only result in minor injuries such as shallow cuts and bruises. As a result, minor accidents help children learn to navigate the world more safely.
However, another party that owes the child a duty of care may cause an accident if they breach this duty. What’s more, if such an accident injures the child, the child may be eligible for compensation. In England and Wales, persons under 18 cannot claim compensation for themselves. However, a litigation friend could claim on your behalf. (In Scotland, you can’t claim for yourself if you’re under 16.)
If you wish to make a child accident claim, don’t hesitate to contact Legal Helpline today. We can provide you with free legal advice about claiming compensation. And, if your child is eligible for compensation, our panel of skilled lawyers can manage their claim.
To begin your claim, please get in touch with us using the details below:
- Call our helpline on 0333 000 0729
- Or make an online enquiry here
Select A Section
- What Are Children’s Accident Claims?
- How Can An Accident Injure A Child?
- What Child Injury Claims Could You Make?
- Can Children Claim For Their Injuries?
- Child Injury Claims Calculator
- Making A Child Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
What Are Children’s Accident Claims?
You could make a personal injury claim under the following circumstances:
- Another party owed you a duty of care. In other words, the party was responsible for protecting your health and safety.
- The other party breached this duty and caused an accident or incident.
- You were harmed as a consequence.
Children, like adults, can receive personal injury compensation. However, children cannot claim compensation for themselves until they are 18 years old. So, a child can wait till they turn 18 to claim compensation. Alternatively, you could claim compensation for the child.
How Could A Serious Injury Impact Children?
A serious injury can have a detrimental impact on a child’s quality of life. Moreover, the child may experience pain and suffering. In extreme cases, the child may become disabled and require support or specialist care for the rest of their life.
If a children’s accident claim is successful, the claimant can receive up to two heads of claim. General damages are compensation for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity the injuries caused. In addition, the child can receive special damages which cover costs associated with the injuries. This can include medical expenses or mobility equipment if the child becomes disabled and needs them, for instance.
How Can An Accident Injure A Child?
If a child suffers an accident, they may experience the following injuries:
- Fractured or broken bones
- Spinal injuries
- Head injuries or brain injuries
- Burns and scalds
- Whiplash and other soft-tissue injuries
- Psychological injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder
What Child Injury Claims Could You Make?
Child injury claims can be made for all sorts of accidents. Let’s look at some examples of how another party could breach their duty of care, causing a child to become injured.
- Accidents in schools can happen if proper health and safety standards are not followed. For example, if a school neglects to repair a broken floorboard, a child can trip and fall on the hazardous flooring and become injured.
- Children can be hurt in pedestrian accidents. For example, a motorist may be driving over the speed limit and hit a child crossing the road.
- A child car accident can cause whiplash injuries or head injuries.
- Sports or outdoor activity accidents can injure a child. For example, faulty sports equipment provided by a sports centre could cause injury.
Please contact us today to enquire about making a child accident claim, including a claim for child whiplash compensation or a child car accident settlement in the UK.
What Evidence Can Support A Child Injury Claim?
If you are eligible to claim compensation as a litigation friend for a child, you will need to submit evidence. Depending on the accident that caused an injury to the child, evidence that could be useful include:
- CCTV footage of the accident (if obtainable)
- Photographic evidence of the scene and the child’s injuries
- Details of any witnesses who could provide a statement at a later date
- Medical notes regarding the child’s injury and any treatment they have undergone
- Evidence of financial expenses caused by the child’s injuries
A solicitor could assist in gathering evidence for a child injury compensation claim. They could also assist in negotiating a compensation settlement that reflects the pain and suffering the child has sustained.
If you would like to get help from a solicitor from our panel, please contact an advisor. They can check whether you could pursue the claim under a No Win No Fee arrangement and can help you take action today.
Can Children Claim For Their Injuries?
Children cannot claim personal injury compensation for themselves. So, the child has two options. Firstly, they can wait until their 18th birthday to pursue the claim. Secondly, a parent, guardian, or another responsible adult can act as a litigation friend to manage the claim on the child’s behalf.
If the child waits until they turn 18 to claim compensation, they will have a 3-year time limit to start their claim. The claims time limit begins on their 18th birthday.
What Is A Litigation Friend?
An adult can act as a litigation friend. The purpose of a litigation friend is to be a responsible adult who makes a child injury claim for a child on their behalf. The litigation friend may have to make legal decisions on the child’s behalf and explain their decision-making process to the child as much as possible. If the child accident claim is successful, a trust will keep the child’s money until the child turns 18.
Child Injury Claims Calculator
You probably wonder how much your child’s injury claim could be worth. Below, we’ve included a compensation table with potential compensation figures. The table estimates how much compensation you could claim in general damages; however, special damages are not included.
General damages compensate you for your physical and mental injuries. Special damages compensate you for financial losses associated with your injuries.
| Type Of Injury & Classification | Damages | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Neck Injury - Severe (A) (ii) | £65,740 to £130,930 | Serious damage (such as fractures) to the cervical spinal discs. These could cause disabilities such as substantial loss of neck movement. |
| Neck Injury - Severe (iii) | £45,470 to £55,990 | A fracture, dislocation or severe soft tissue damage which has led to the person having a chronic condition. |
| Neck Injury - Moderate (B) (i) | £24,990 to £38,490 | A back injury which could include a dislocation or a fracture leading to immediate symptoms and which could need the person to have a spinal fusion. |
| Neck Injury - Moderate (ii) | £13,740 to £24,990 | Cases where the person has a soft tissue injury in the neck, such as those caused by a wrenching injury. |
| Brain Damage - Moderately Severe | £219,070 to £282,010 | Damages may be based on the factors such as the person's degree of insight, their life expectancy, their ability to communicate and behavioural problems as well as other potential problems. |
| Brain Damage - Moderate (i) | £150,110 to £219,070 | The injury may have resulted in personality changes, a moderate to severe intellectual deficit and had effects on speech and senses. |
| Scarring To Other Parts Of The Body | Likely to exceed £104,830 | The effects of a burn injury may be regarded as serious due to their degree of pain and the continuing psychological/physical harm caused. |
| Facial Disfigurement - Significant Scarring | £9,110 to £30,090 | The most significant effects may have been reduced through plastic surgery. There may still be some degree of cosmetic disability. |
| Mental Health Injury - Severe | £54,830 to £115,730 | The injury will be significant and will have had a serious effect on this person. It could have affected all parts of the child's life. |
| Mental Health Injury - Less Severe | £1,540 to £5,860 | The child will have made an almost full recovery. |
We’ve taken figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), produced in April 2022, to create the potential compensation awards in the table above. Indeed, personal injury solicitors use these guidelines to help when they value accident claims. But, solicitors will consider other information and evidence, so your child’s injury settlement may differ.
Please feel free to call our compensation claims helpline. We will be happy to speak to you in-depth about your child’s injuries and advise you on how much you could claim on their behalf.
Making A Child Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
If your case meets the eligibility criteria, and you’d like to move forward with a claim for an injury to a child, you might prefer to have a solicitor assist you.
Solicitors can help take the legal legwork out of making a claim. They can assist in gathering relevant evidence and could negotiate with the liable party for a compensation settlement. However, you may have concerns over the cost of instructing a lawyer.
The solicitors from our panel could offer to work on your case under a No Win No Fee arrangement. This would negate the need to pay for the solicitor’s work upfront. Under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement, you would not pay the solicitor for their work until the claim ends.
Should your claim succeed, the solicitor would take a small percentage of the child injury compensation payout as a success fee. Should the claim fail, you would not typically pay for the solicitor’s work. This reduces the risk of you being left out of pocket should the claim not result in compensation.
To see if a solicitor from our panel could assist you under a CFA, you can contact an advisor today to take advantage of our free case check.
To discuss making a compensation claim for a child’s injury, please get in touch with us today:
- Call us on 0333 000 0729
- Enquire online through our site
- Or ask us a question using our live chat
Related Child Injury Claims
To learn more about making a child injury claim, please take the time to read these online guides.
- £54,000 Compensation Payout For Schoolboy Knee Injury
- Accident At Nursery School Injury Claims
- £20,000 Compensation Payout For A Broken Collarbone In A Car Accident
- Sensible health and safety in schools – an HSE guide
- Health and safety on school trips – an HSE guide
- How do I know if I’ve broken a bone? – an NHS guide
To find out more about child injury claims, please contact us today.
