If you’ve suffered a neck injury, it could have a lasting impact on your life. You may be thinking of making a personal injury compensation claim if you’ve been injured because of somebody else’s fault. In this guide, we’ll explain who is eligible to make neck injury claims.
Key Points On Making A Neck Injury Claim
- Your neck injury claim could include compensation for your injuries and, possibly, financial losses.
- You could claim compensation for various neck injuries, ranging from minor to severe neck injuries.
- It’s possible to suffer a neck injury caused by someone else’s fault in accidents at work, in road traffic accidents, or public place accidents.
- You have a time limit of 3 years to start your neck injury compensation claim.
- It’s possible to make a neck injury claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor.
Get free advice for your particular case today by contacting one of our advisors:
- Call us at 0333 000 0729
- Contact Us online.
- Speak to us directly via Live Chat.
Browse Our Guide Or Jump To A Section
- How Much Could I Get For A Neck Injury Settlement?
- Am I Eligible To Make A Neck Injury Claim?
- Common Causes Of Neck Injuries
- Kinds Of Injuries You Can Claim For
- How To Make A Personal Injury Claim
- How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Help You Claim
- More Information On Neck Injury Claims
How Much Could I Get For A Neck Injury Settlement?
Compensation for successful neck injury claims could consist of two heads of loss:
- General Damages: These are awarded for your pain and suffering due to your physical and psychological injuries.
- Special Damages: These damages account for your financial losses due to your injuries.
Factors Considered In Your Payout
When your general damages payout is being calculated, various factors will impact how much you could receive. For example:
- The severity of your injury
- Whether you suffered multiple injuries
- The time it takes you to recover.
- What type of accident you were involved in.
- What treatments your injury has needed.
Throughout the claims process, you may be instructed to attend an independent medical assessment to generate a report about your injuries.
This report could be used alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to calculate your general damages. This document contains guideline compensation brackets for different severities of physical and psychological injuries.
In the table below, we have used some of the JCG’s figures relating to neck injuries.
Please be aware that the final two figures have come from the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, which will be applicable for certain road traffic accident claims. Additionally, the first entry has come from neither of these sources.
| Injury | Notes | Compensation Guidelines |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries and Special Damages | There is more than one severe injury and financial losses such as lost earnings. | Up to £500,000 + |
| Severe (i) Neck Injuries | There could be a case of incomplete paraplegia or permanent spastic quadriparesis. | In the region of £181,020 |
| Severe (ii) Neck Injuries | Serious neck fractures or broken discs in the spine which could cause disabilities like substantial loss of neck movement. | £80,240 to £159,770 |
| Severe (iii) Neck Injuries | Dislocations or fractures to the tendons or soft tissues which could lead to significant permanent disability or chronic conditions. | £55,500 to £68,330 |
| Moderate (i) Neck Injuries | Fractures or dislocations which may require spinal fusion. | £30,500 to £46,970 |
| Moderate (ii) Neck Injuries | Disc lesion or soft tissue injury which could cause cervical spondylosis or chronic pain. | £16,770 to £30,500 |
| Moderate (iii) Neck Injuries | The injuries may have exacerbated pre-existing conditions or accelerated them over a shorter period of time, usually 5 years. | £9,630 to £16,770 |
| Minor (i) Neck Injuries | There is a complete recovery within a year or two. | £5,310 to £9,630 |
| Whiplash with psychological injuries | Symptoms lasting between 18 months to 2 years | £4,345 |
| Whiplash | Symptoms lasting between 18 months to 2 years | £4,215 |
Special Damages – What They Mean For Your Claim
In addition to general damages, special damages may be included in your compensation payout. You may be able to claim compensation for the following financial losses:
- Loss of earnings: This could be due to the time you took off work or the loss of benefits like pension.
- Medical expenses like prescribed medications and costs incurred while commuting to and from medical appointments and physiotherapy sessions.
- Caring costs if you needed care at home.
- Costs of modifications to the house or vehicle.
- The cost of any supportive equipment like a neck collar.
To learn more about how compensation is calculated in neck injury claims, you can contact our advisors.
Am I Eligible To Make A Neck Injury Claim?
Certain eligibility requirements need to be met in all neck injury claims in order for them to be eligible. These are:
- Someone owed you a duty of care.
- They breached this.
- Your neck injury was caused by this.
You are owed a duty of care in various circumstances. This is a legal responsibility to ensure your reasonable safety. We set out when you may be owed this duty in the next section.
Contact our advisors today to check the eligibility of your case and receive free advice.
Common Causes Of Neck Injuries
There are various instances where neck injury claims could be made. Below we have set out some examples of accidents that could occur if the duty of care owed to you is breached.
Road Traffic Accidents
All road users need to ensure that they are using the roads safely, per their duty of care. The Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988 set out rules and regulations all users must adhere to.
If you suffer a neck injury due to a breach of this duty, you could make a road traffic accident claim. For example:
- You are crossing the road as a pedestrian, and a motorist fails to stop at a red light. He collides with you and causes you to fracture your neck as well as suffer a back injury.
Accidents At Work
The Health and Safety At Work etc. Act 1974 states that employers owe a duty of care towards their employees. They must take reasonable measures to ensure their employees safety whilst they are working.
If you suffer an injury due to your employer breaching their duty of care, you could make an accident at work claim. For example:
- Your employer provided you with a known faulty ladder, and you fell off, suffering a soft tissue injury in your neck as well as an arm injury.
Accidents In Public Places
Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, occupiers have a duty to protect those who visit public places. Occupiers are individuals or authorities who are in control of the public place.
If you injure your neck due to an occupier failing to adhere to this duty, you could make a public liability claim. For example:
- If the owner of a shop fails to secure an overhead sign, it could fall on you and cause a serious neck injury as well as a head injury.
To see whether you may have a valid personal injury claim, you can contact our advisors.
Kinds Of Injuries You Can Claim For
Neck injury claims could be made for a wide range of injuries, such as:
- Minor Neck Injuries: Some examples are soft tissue injuries, damage to the tendons, ligaments, and muscles in the neck, and neck strain.
- Moderate Neck Injuries: Some examples of these neck injuries are prolapsed discs and spondylosis.
- Severe Neck Injuries: This category could include life-altering injuries or those which cause a permanent disability such as paralysis.
Want to make a serious injury claim? Reach out to our team now to discuss your case.
How To Make A Personal Injury Claim
If you have suffered a neck injury in an accident that was not your fault, there are various steps you could take to help support your claim. There is also different information that you may find beneficial when making a claim. We have set these out below.
Gathering Evidence
This is a very crucial step to strengthen your neck injury claim. Some examples of the evidence that you could gather are:
- Medical records such as X-rays, prescriptions and GP notes.
- CCTV footage of the accident or other video footage, such as from a dashcam.
- Photographs of the injury or the accident site.
- Details from the workplace or public place accident book
- A copy of the police report, wherever applicable.
- Details of witnesses so a statement could be collected from them.
How Long Your Claim Could Take
All neck injury claims are unique, meaning there is no set timeframe for how long a claim will take to settle. Some factors that could affect the length of your claim include:
- The type of accident you were injured in.
- The severity of your injuries and whether they have recovered or not.
- Whether the other party admits or denies liability.
- Whether your claim needs to go to court or not.
One of the experienced solicitors on our panel could help guide you through the neck injury claims process. Contact our advisors to learn more.
How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Help You Claim
While it isn’t necessary to hire a solicitor for your claim, it could be beneficial. The solicitors on our panel have lots of experience working on various neck injury claims and could help you with gathering evidence, communicating with the defending parting and negotiating your compensation.
Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis
The greatest advantage of considering working with a solicitor on our panel is that they offer their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
With this No Win No Fee arrangement in place, you will not need to pay them for their services:
- Before the claim starts.
- While the claim is progressing.
- If you are unsuccessful in receiving compensation.
However, should you receive compensation, a success fee will be taken from this by your solicitor. This fee is a percentage, and how much this percentage could be is legally limited.
To learn more about how a solicitor from our panel could help you, contact our advisors today:
- Call us at 0333 000 0729
- Contact Us online.
- Speak to us directly via Live Chat.
More Information
Additional compensation claims guides by us:
- Our guide on how to claim for an accident in a shop.
- Details on making a personal injury claim for a hairline fracture.
- See if you could claim for a back injury after a car accident.
Here are some external links for further reading:
- Guidance from the government on appointing a litigation friend.
- Information from the NHS on First Aid.
- Details on neck pain by the NHS.
Thank you for reading this guide on neck injury claims.
