What is a personal injury claim?
Last updated · By Mustafa Bilgic
The basic idea
A personal injury claim is how the law puts an injured person, as far as money can, back in the position they would have been in had the accident not happened. It is a civil claim (one person or business against another), separate from any criminal case, and it is almost always paid by an insurer rather than by the wrongdoer personally.
What you have to prove: negligence
Most claims are based on negligence. In England & Wales that means establishing three things:
- Duty of care — the other party owed you a legal duty to take reasonable care (a driver to other road users, an employer to staff, an occupier to visitors).
- Breach — they fell below the standard of reasonable care (drove carelessly, failed to maintain equipment, left a hazard).
- Causation — that breach caused your injury, and the injury was a foreseeable result.
Some claims rest on a breach of statutory duty instead or as well — for example specific health-and-safety regulations at work.
What you can claim — the two heads of damages
| Head of loss | What it covers | How it is valued |
|---|---|---|
| General damages | The injury — pain, suffering & loss of amenity | Judicial College Guidelines (UK) |
| Special damages | Financial losses — earnings, treatment, care, travel | Proven actual cost + future losses |
See general damages and special damages for the detail, and how compensation is calculated for how they combine.
Who do you claim against?
You claim against whoever was responsible — and, in practice, their insurer: an at-fault driver's motor insurer, an employer's liability insurer, an occupier's public-liability insurer. Where the wrongdoer is uninsured or untraced (e.g. a hit-and-run), the UK Motor Insurers' Bureau may step in; victims of violent crime can use the CICA scheme.
How claims are usually funded
Many UK claims run on a "no win, no fee" conditional fee agreement, so you do not pay your solicitor's charges if the claim fails, and a capped success fee applies if it wins. Small road-traffic whiplash claims often go through the government's Official Injury Claim portal without a solicitor.
Curious what a claim might be worth? The free compensation calculator gives an indicative range from your injury and losses.
Common types of personal injury claim
The same legal principles apply across very different situations. The most common categories are:
- Road traffic accidents — drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians (see the car accident and road traffic calculators).
- Accidents at work — from manual-handling injuries to serious construction accidents.
- Public-place accidents — slips, trips and falls under occupiers' liability (see public liability).
- Clinical negligence — avoidable harm caused by substandard medical care.
- Criminal assaults — where the CICA scheme may apply.
What to do after an accident
A few early steps strengthen any future claim: get medical attention and make sure the injury is recorded; report the accident (to the police, your employer's accident book, or the occupier) so there is an official record; gather evidence — photos, witness names, and any CCTV or dashcam reference; and keep everything that proves your losses, from payslips to receipts. These are exactly the materials your adviser and the medical expert will need, and they are far easier to capture at the time than to reconstruct later. See medical evidence for a claim.
Can you claim for psychological as well as physical injury?
Yes. A personal injury is not limited to broken bones and bruises — a recognised psychological injury such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression caused by the accident is compensatable in the same way, supported by evidence from a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. Many claims include both a physical and a psychological element. What the law does not compensate is ordinary distress, worry or grief that falls short of a diagnosable condition, so an expert diagnosis is the dividing line.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a personal injury claim?
Any claim for compensation where you were hurt — physically or psychologically — because of someone else's negligence or breach of duty. Common examples are road accidents, accidents at work, slips and trips in public places, and clinical negligence. You must generally show the other party owed you a duty of care, breached it, and that this caused your injury.
How do I prove a personal injury claim?
By establishing negligence: that the defendant owed you a duty of care, fell below the standard of reasonable care, and that this breach caused your injury. Evidence is key — medical records, photos of the hazard, witness details, an accident-book entry, and proof of your financial losses. Some claims also rely on breaches of specific statutory duties, such as health-and-safety regulations.
How much does it cost to make a personal injury claim?
Many UK claims run on a no win, no fee basis, so you pay no solicitor charges if the claim fails and a capped success fee if it wins. Small road-traffic whiplash claims can be made for free through the Official Injury Claim portal without a solicitor. The compensation itself is normally paid by the defendant's insurer, not by them personally.