A neck injury can cause both physical and financial harm. Even mild injury or whiplash can prevent a person from working and coping as they did before. Neck injury claims could be made you suffered a neck injury because of the negligent actions of another.
Within this guide, we will share how your personal injury compensation may be calculated and when you could have an eligible claim. Furthermore, we share the different types of neck injuries you could claim for and the various types of accidents that may be suffered in.
Additionally, we look at how a solicitor from our panel could help you claim on a No Win No Fee Basis.
To ask any questions or receive free advice regarding your case, you can contact our advisors:
- Call 0333 000 0729
- Contact us online
- Click on the live chat tab at the corner of this page
Jump To A Section Of Our Guide
- 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 The Claims Process Works
- How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Help You Claim
- More Information
How Much Could I Get For A Neck Injury Settlement?
For successful neck injury claims, the compensation awarded could comprise fo two heads of loss called general and special damages. Firstly, general damages are a way to compensate the person for the physical pain and psychological suffering caused by their injuries. This is always awarded in successful personal injury claims.
The people responsible for calculating your general damages could look at the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them, alongside any medical evidence provided.
This document contains guideline compensation brackets for different injuries. In the table below, we have listed the entries relating to neck injuries. However, the first entry has not been taken from the JCG.
Furthermore, the last two entries have been taken from the fixed tariff within the Whiplash Injury Regulation 2021, as these may apply to certain road traffic accident claims.
Compensation Guidelines
| Location | Severity | JC Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| More than one type of severe injury and special damages award. | Severe | Up to £1 million plus. |
| Neck | (a) Severe (i) | Approximately £181,020 |
| (a) Severe (ii) | £80,240 up to £159,770 | |
| (a) Severe (iii) | £55,500 up to £68,330 | |
| (b) Moderate (i) | £30,500 up to £46,970 | |
| (b) Moderate (ii) | £16,770 up to £30,500 | |
| (b) Moderate (iii) | £9,630 up to £16,770 | |
| (c) Minor (i) | £5,310 up to £9,630 | |
| Whiplash | Whiplash + psychological injury lasting 18 to 24 months | £43,45 |
| Whiplash injury lasting 18 to 24 months | £4,215 |
Factors Considered In Your Payout
How much compensation you could receive in general damages will be affected by various factors, such as:
- The severity of the injury suffered
- Whether a full recovery has been made or not.
- What treatments have been needed.
- Whether any psychological harm was also suffered.
Special Damages – What They Mean For Your Claim
Special damages is the other head of loss that could be awarded. This compensates you for the financial damages you have suffered due to your injuries. To claim special damages, you need to provide evidence of the financial losses, such as:
- Payslips that prove a loss of earnings after taking time off work to recover.
- Bills for private medical treatments and prescriptions.
- Tickets and receipts for travel expenses.
- Proof of invoices paid to those who provided childcare or any personal care.
To see whether you may have a valid personal injury claim, you can continue reading this guide. You can also call our advisors for free advice.
Am I Eligible To Make A Neck Injury Claim?
All neck injury claims need to prove that negligence occurred in order to be valid. In personal injury law, negligence is when:
- You were owed a duty of care.
- This duty was breached.
- You suffered an injury due to this.
You must meet all three of these criteria in order to have a valid case. In the next section, we discuss when you are owed a duty of care and how you could claim if this duty is breached.
Contact our advisors today to discuss your case and see whether you may be eligible for compensation.
Common Causes Of Neck Injuries
As we mentioned above, you are owed a duty of care in different situations. If this duty is breached, an accident could occur. We have set out below when you are owed a duty of care and what accident could take place if they are breached/
Road Traffic Accidents
While on the roads, a duty of care is owed by all road users. They need to use them in a way that is safe to avoid causing a road traffic accident. To fully meet their duty of care, all road users must comply with the Road Traffic Act 1988 and additional obligations detailed in the Highway Code.
If you suffer a neck injury due to another road user not adhering to their duty of care, you could be eligible to make a road traffic accident claim. For example:
- An intoxicated driver rear-ends you and causes you to suffer severe neck and spinal damage.
- You are hit while using a crossing as a pedestrian and suffer a fractured neck because a taxi driver failed to stop due to being distracted by their phone.
Accidents At Work
Employers owe their workers a duty of care, as stated in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA). They are obliged to take reasonable and practicable steps to make sure that staff are safe while performing their job duties.
If you suffer a neck injury due to your employer breaching their duty of care, you may be able to make an accident at work claim. For example:
- You suffer a serious injury to your neck and back after your employer provided you with a faulty ladder and you fell from this.
- Due to not performing regular risk assessments, your employer failed to notice boxes in the storeroom of your supermarket job were stacked improperly. This causes them to fall on you, and you suffer a fractured neck and head injury.
Public Place Accidents
Occupiers are those in control of public spaces. Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, they have a duty of care to ensure the reasonable safety of those using that space.
If you suffer a neck injury due to an occupier breaching their duty of care, you may be able to make a public liability claim. For example:
- A library fails to repair a faulty handrail on a staircase. This causes you to fall down the stairs when it breaks, and you suffer a fractured neck and leg injury.
- A retail shop fails to ensure an overhead hanging sign is secured properly. This leads to the sign falling on top of you, and you suffer a severe head injury as well as a neck injury.
To see whether you may have a valid case or to ask any questions about the neck injury claims process, you can contact our advisors.
Kinds Of Injuries You Can Claim For
We now look at some of the types of neck injuries that you could claim for:
- Strained tendons and pulled muscles.
- Whiplash.
- Nerve and spinal cord damage.
- Dislodged vertebrae (slipped discs).
- Neck fractures.
- Soft tissue injury to the neck.
Regardless of whether you suffered a minor or severe neck injury, if it was caused by the negligent actions of another, you may be able to make a neck injury claim. Contact our advisors today to discuss your case.
How The Claims Process Works
There are various steps you can take and need to be aware of when making a personal injury claim. Below, we have laid some of these out.
Gathering Evidence
Evidence is a fundamental part of the personal injury claims process. Therefore, it’s important to gather as much proof as you can that the third party breached their duty of care to you and you were harmed as a result.
Examples of evidence you could gather include:
- Video footage of the accident, such as CCTV or dashcam footage.
- Photographs of the accident site.
- Eyewitness contact details. If you do decide to appoint a personal injury solicitor, they can collect a supporting statement from these eyewitnesses later on.
- Copies of your medical records detailing the injury you suffered and the treatment received.
A solicitor from our panel might be able to take up your claim and help you assemble evidence as part of their services.
How Long Your Claim Could Take
The duration of the personal injury claim varies from person to person. Several factors can influence how long the claim may take, such as:
- What type of accident you were involved in.
- The severity of your injury.
- How long it takes to gather evidence.
- Whether liability is admitted or not.
One of the solicitors on our panel could guide you through the claiming process. Contact our advisors today to learn more.
How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Help You Claim
You do not need to work with a solicitor, but doing so can come with various benefits. The ones on our panel are able to offer many excellent services. They can:
- Support you in gathering evidence.
- Collect statements from eyewitnesses.
- Negotiate with the third party to get you the maximum compensation.
- Use the evidence to calculate a compensation amount that fully reflects the losses you’ve experienced.
Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis
All these outstanding services are offered to eligible claimants through a type of No Win No Fee contract. The solicitors on our panel offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) specifically. Under the terms of a CFA, there are:
- No upfront service fees.
- No service fees owed as the claim develops.
- No payment needed for the solicitors services if the claim fails.
- Only a percentage of your compensation is awarded to your solicitor if the claim is a success. This is referred to as a success fee, and the law limits this percentage.
To see if one of the No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel could help you with the neck injury claims process, you can contact our advisors today:
- Call 0333 000 0729
- Contact us online
- Click on the live chat tab at the corner of this page.
More Information
More guides by us:
- Read if you’re eligible to make a spinal injury claim here.
- See when you may have valid whiplash claim in this guide.
- This guide looks at a £2 million payout for back injury and paralysis claim.
Other help:
- Information on neck pain from the NHS
- Learn how to request CCTV footage of yourself from Gov.UK.
- Advice about Statutory Sick pay (SSP) from the GOV.UK.
Thank you for reading this guide on neck injury claims.
