Last updated 10th November 2025. Have you or someone you know had an accident that was not your fault? Did you suffer a head injury as a result of this accident? If so, read our guide on head injury claims.
Key Takeaways In Head Injury Claims
- You could be eligible to make a head injury claim for personal injury compensation.
- If a party who suffered a head injury is unable to claim for themselves, another suitable person may be able to handle the claim on their behalf.
- Settlements could compensate for the physical injury and any mental suffering as well as the financial impacts, including the costs of long-term care, alterations to your home and the lost income.
- Our expert solicitors will assist with all eligible claims on a No Win No Fee basis.
Get in touch today to raise any of the issues presented in this guide. We can listen to the circumstances of the incident that caused your injuries and advise on whether you could pursue a compensation claim.
- Phone: 0800 073 8801
- Online: Claim form
- Live chat available
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Select A Section From Our Guide
- What Is A Head Injury Claim?
- Can I Make A Head Injury Claim?
- How Much Compensation Could I Get For A Head Injury?
- Serious Head Injuries
- How To Prove Your Personal Injury Claim
- Time Limits For Head Injury Claims
- Why Pursue Head Injury Compensation With Accident Claims?
- Learn More
- Head Injury Claims FAQs
What Is A Head Injury Claim?
A head injury claim is the legal process by which you can pursue compensation for the harm and resulting financial loss you’ve suffered due to a third party’s negligent acts (or inactions). Often, this type of personal injury claim is made following accidents on the road, at work, or in public places, including:
- Car collisions and impacts involving pedestrians
- Slips, trips, and falls
- Falls from height
- Being hit by falling objects
Typically, head injury claims need to be started within 3 years of the accident occurring, but there are exceptions to this (which we’ll discuss in detail later on in this guide). If you’re successful, you may be awarded compensation for the pain and suffering of your head injury, along with any other harm you experienced. Payouts may also include compensation for private medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost income, and other financial losses.
For a more tailored discussion of head injury claims, please get in touch today for a chat with one of our empathetic and friendly advisors.
Can I Make A Head Injury Claim?
In order to have good grounds to pursue a head injury claim, you will need to prove that negligence occurred. We need to establish the three points that constitute negligence:
- Was there a duty of care owed to you by a third party?
- Did the third party breach their duty of care?
- Did the breach of duty cause your head injury or brain damage?
There are various daily situations in which you are owed a duty of care. We take a look at some of these below.
Accidents At Work
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a responsibility upon employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of their employees in the working environment. An example of this could be:
- Your employer has asked you to move heavy boxes without providing you with the correct manual handling training. This caused you an injury when you fell backwards, hitting your head on a shelving unit because the boxes were too heavy. You could be eligible to make an accident at work claim.
Road Traffic Accidents
Anyone using the roads must use them in a safe manner to avoid causing injury and damage. This is the duty of care owed by road users to each other. To ensure they comply with this duty, they must adhere to the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988. An example of a breach of duty could be:
- A person is driving a vehicle whilst under the influence of drink and/or drugs, loses control of the vehicle, and the driver hits a pedestrian with a car, causing a serious injury, along with brain damage and broken bones.
Public Liability Accidents
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 is a key piece of legislation that outlines the duty of care for those in control of a public place. As part of this duty, the occupier (those in control of the space) must ensure the public’s reasonable safety while they are using the premises for its intended purpose. An example of breaching the duty of care includes:
- Walking along a supermarket aisle, there is a spillage on the floor with no warning signs. You do not see the spillage, slipping, and falling, resulting in a head injury and fractured wrist.
Contact us to discuss the circumstances of the accident that caused your injury. We can then assess whether you have good grounds to make a head injury claim.
Are Head Injuries And Brain Injuries The Same?
Whilst both head injuries and brain injuries may be considered similar in nature, they are not the same. It could be suggested that your brain controls all elements of your body, including your head. A head injury could be just a bruise or cut, or other mild damage, with a complete recovery.
However, a brain injury could have life-changing consequences:
- Physical effects that could include mobility impairments, fatigue and paralysis.
- Cognitive problems, such as a reduced ability to problem solve and impaired reasoning.
- Emotional and behavioural changes, including anger, depression and personality changes.
In our next section, we will show examples of compensation and the difference in head and brain injury amounts.
If you have any questions about head injury claims, please get in touch.
How Much Compensation Could I Get For A Head Injury?
For successful head injury claims, compensation can be awarded for up to two heads of loss: general damages and special damages.
- General damages are for your pain, suffering, and any mental anguish you may have as a result of the accident.
- Special damages cover the financial losses you may have suffered due to your injury.
In order to value your head injury claim, we would require you to be seen by an independent medical expert. The expert would then provide us with a medical report confirming the details of his assessment and stating whether you require any further treatment and/or assessments.
Once we receive the medical report, the person valuing your claim may use it along with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG is a text which provides guideline compensation brackets for different injuries.
Below is a table providing brackets from the JCG. Please note that the first insert has not been taken from the text, and none of the entries represent a guarantee of compensation.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Guideline Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries and special damages | Most severe | Including other financial losses, such as lost earnings and nursing care. | Upto £1,000.000 + |
| Brain and head injury | Very severe | There will be little evidence of meaningful response to the environment, little to no language function, double incontinence, and the injured party needs nursing care on a full time basis. | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Moderately severe | Very disabled with substantial dependence on others. Disabilities may be physical, limb paralysis, or cognitive, with marked impairment of intellect. | £267,340 to £344,150 | |
| Moderate (i) | Moderate to severe intellectual deficit, effect on sight, speech, and senses, significant risk of epilepsy, no prospect of employment. | £183,190 to £267,340 | |
| Moderate (ii) | There is a moderate to modest intellectual deficit and a greatly reduced or entirely removed ability to work along with some epilepsy risk. | £110,720 to £183,190 | |
| Moderate (iii) | There is a reduced ability to work, concentration and memory are affected and there may be some fatigue along with a small epilepsy risk. | £52,550 to £110,720 | |
| Less Severe | Although the recover has been good and the injured party can return to a normal social and work life, not all normal functions could have been restored. There may be persisting poor concentration and memory or mood disinhibition that interfere with their lifestyle. | £18,700 to £52,550 | |
| Minor Injury | Any brain damage would have been minimal with the award affected by initial injury severity, recovery and whether there's any continuing symptoms along with their extent and whether headaches are present. | £2,690 to £15,580 |
We will discuss special damages in the next section.
What If I Need Home Adaptations?
When making a head injury claim, all aspects of your situation will be considered.
As mentioned above, special damages include home adaptations, and whilst special damages are not always recoverable, we do recommend putting forward a claim for them.
Special damages could include:
- Loss of earnings – (this could include current and future earnings as well as any overtime or bonuses that you may have missed out on).
- Care and assistance – this could be care from a professional or a family member/friend.
- Alterations to accommodate you – some injuries may require alterations to your home and/or car.
- Travel costs – to and from medical appointments.
- Medical costs – this can cover additional treatment that your independent medical professional has recommended. (including physiotherapy, CBT, and prescription costs).
- Clothing and personal items – any damaged items when you had your accident (clothing, electronics such as phones, bags, shoes, and motorbike leathers).
If you would like to discuss special damages relating to head injury claims, call us today for a free consultation.
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Serious Head Injuries
Serious head injuries can have both physical, mental, and financial impacts on life. If your head injury has resulted in brain damage, then you could require lifelong care from a professional carer or house manager. In addition to this, you may not be able to work anymore, and this would impact you financially.
Not having a regular income can be scary, and your claim could include an award for special damages, including care and any future earnings lost.
For us to recover any financial loss we do require evidence to support your claim.
For example:
- Wage slips – confirming your income, any bonuses you may have received, or missed overtime.
- Bank statements – these could prove any purchases that you have had to make as a result of your injury.
- Receipts and/or invoices for any work you may have done on your home and/or car (alterations that needed to be done).
- Tax returns – If you were self-employed.
- Details of any medical professionals that you have had to see as a result of your accident that are assisting with your recovery.
Could An Interim Payment Benefit Me?
If you are struggling financially as the claim progresses, you can request an interim payment from the defendant. We must provide a medical report to support our request. These can be paid to claimants once it seems likely that their case will be successful but the overall settlement has yet to be agreed. An interim payment can cover items required immediately, such as medical expenses.
Your medical report will not only help value your claim but also serve as evidence to request an interim payment. If your head injury is serious, you may request more than one interim payment. The amount requested will depend on the details in your medical report.
Call us today with any questions about interim payments for head injury claims and what they might cover.
How To Prove Your Personal Injury Claim
In order for us to prove head injury claims, we require evidence that proves liability for your injuries.
Such as:
- CCTV footage, Dashcam or video footage.
- Accident reports (work or police if the police attended the location).
- Medical records, reports, X-rays, scans.
- Photographs of the location, defect, and injury.
- Expense records.
- Witness details.
- A diary of everything that happened after the accident.
If you would like to learn more about gathering evidence and find out how our solicitors could help you, call our advisors today for your free consultation.
Time Limits For Head Injury Claims
The time limit for starting head injury claims is usually 3 years from the date of an accident. Also known as a limitation period, it refers to the timeframe for initiating a claim, and does not concern when a case should be concluded.
There are instances where the 3-year time limit will not apply if the claimant cannot pursue compensation on their own because of the following reasons:
- They are under 18: Here, the time limit doesn’t apply until the date of a claimant’s 18th birthday.
- They are mentally incapacitated: Time limits for those lacking mental capacity will not start unless there is a recovery. In such cases, the usual 3 years would start to count down from when this recovery occurs.
Starting the claims process as soon as possible will give you enough time to seek compensation and help ensure evidence is more readily available and complete. Moreover, taking early action can play a meaningful role in your long-term recovery, as any compensation payout could fund private medical treatments, specialist equipment, and access to head injury rehabilitation specialists.
In the following section, we’ll explain how a litigation friend could step in to help a claimant still pursue compensation whilst time limits are paused.
Claiming On Behalf Of Someone Else
A person claiming on behalf of someone else would be known as a litigation friend. This can be a parent, family member, solicitor, or other eligible adult. To become a litigation friend, an application is made to the court, obtaining a certificate of suitability allowing them to act on your behalf.
Litigation friends are responsible for performing various case-related duties on behalf of the claimant, including keeping them updated where practical. They are also expected to act in the best interests of the person they are representing in the head injury claim.
If you would like to discuss how to instruct a litigation friend, call our advisors for a free, no-obligation consultation. They will be happy to help.
Why Pursue Head Injury Compensation With Accident Claims?
Reasons why we believe you should pursue a head injury compensation claim with our solicitors:
- Decades of experience and expertise in head injury claims.
- Constant updates throughout the claim process.
- Work under a No Win No Fee arrangement.
- They will arrange any appointments that you may require (medical, physio).
- Assist with collecting evidence to support your claim.
Our solicitors offer these services on a No Win No Fee basis under a Conditional Fee Agreement.
Call us today for a free head injury claim assessment. If it seems like you have good grounds to seek compensation, you could be connected to one of our personal injury solicitors.
What Is A Conditional Fee Agreement?
A Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. This is an umbrella term for contracts that can help fund the work of legal representatives. It means that you won’t be asked to make upfront or ongoing payments for your solicitor’s work on your case. Additionally, you won’t be asked to pay for their services should your head injury claim prove unsuccessful.
If your claim is successful, a success fee will be deducted from your compensation. This fee is a percentage that is legally capped, ensuring you receive the majority of your compensation.
Call our advisors today for a free, no-obligation chat about working with our solicitors on a No-Win, No-Fee basis or to discuss anything related to making head injury claims.
- Phone: 0800 073 8801
- Online: Start your claim
- Live chat available
Learn More
Below are additional guides and resources for you to review relating to head injury claims.
Additional resources:
- Read our guide on road traffic accidents and how to make a No Win No Fee claim.
- A case study about a £4 million brain damage payout after a road traffic accident.
- See a guide on how to report a fatal accident at work.
- Read our guide on accident at work compensation examples.
Further resources:
- Read more about head injury and concussion from the NHS.
- Guidance on claiming Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from the government.
- Details on requesting CCTV footage from the government.
Head Injury Claims FAQs
For further guidance, you can read our answers to some frequently asked questions about head injury claims.
How Much Can You Claim For A Head Injury?
Payouts covering very severe instances of brain damage alone may range between £344,150 and £493,000. However, this is only for very severe brain damage. If your case is successful, how much you can claim for a head injury will depend on the severity of the physical trauma, its psychological consequences, and associated financial loss.
What Are The Three Main Types Of Head Injuries?
The 3 main types of head injuries are skull fractures, concussions, and intracranial haematomas. Additionally, head injuries may be categorised into varying degrees of minor, moderate, or severe.
How Much Should I Settle For A Head Injury?
Between £2,690 and £493,000 for the physical injury, depending on severity. However, special damages will change this amount.
How To Know If A Head Injury Is Serious?
According to the NHS, you may know if a head injury is serious if there is a loss of consciousness, persistent vomiting, an open wound, or a headache that doesn’t stop.
We appreciate your time in reading our guide on making head injury claims. Please call to take advantage of our outstanding services.
