This guide will discuss whether you might be entitled to sick pay after an accident at work, whether this is company sick pay or Statutory Sick Pay. We will discuss details concerning SSP, looking at the rate that is paid and who will be eligible to receive this.
If you have had an accident at work that appears to be the fault of your employer, you may have the right to seek compensation for the injury you have suffered as well as for the financial impacts. The types of financial losses you could suffer after an accident at work include loss of earnings if you need to take time off work to recover. Therefore, if you are not eligible for company sick pay, you could be reimbursed your loss of earnings through a personal injury claim. For this reason, we have included a section on the eligibility to make an accident at work claim that could include a payment for lost wages.
In the penultimate section of our guide, we look at the benefits of claiming with a personal injury solicitor using a type of No Win No Fee agreement. If you would rather talk about your case, why not get in touch? You can:
- Call 0800 073 8801 to see if you are entitled to sick pay after an accident at work.
- Contact us online.
- Use the live chat.
Select A Section
- Am I Entitled To Sick Pay After An Accident At Work?
- What Is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)?
- Can I Claim For Loss of Earnings After An Accident At Work?
- Claim Personal Injury Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- More Resources About Claiming Accident At Work Compensation
Am I Entitled To Sick Pay After An Accident At Work?
You may be entitled to sick pay after an accident at work. This could be contractual sick pay from your employer or Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which we discuss in the next section.
Company sick pay is discretionary, even if you suffered injuries in a workplace accident. Employers are not legally obliged to have a sick pay scheme.
Also, terms of employment will differ, so check your contract to see if your employer offers a sick pay entitlement and if they do, what the terms are. Furthermore, if you are entitled to sick pay, it may be paid at a lower rate than your regular wages, or it may not cover the entire time that you are off work recovering from the injuries sustained in the workplace accident.
What Is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)?
By law, employers have to pay Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to employees who meet certain eligibility criteria. A worker qualifies if they:
- Absent from work sick for a minimum of 4 consecutive days (this includes non-working days).
- Earn £123 each week, prior to tax (on average).
- Are classed as an employee and have done some work.
If eligible, the employee is entitled to statutory sick pay for days that normally would have been worked, except the first three.
In addition to this agency workers, zero-hours contract staff and temporary workers can also get statutory sick pay if they meet the criteria. If the employee is not entitled to SSP, the employer must inform them. There may be other benefits they can apply for.
Currently, SSP is £116.75 per week. Your employer can pay it for up to 28 weeks. It is paid in the same way as your normal wages, i.e. weekly or monthly. You may get SSP from each employer if you have multiple jobs.
Can I Claim For Loss of Earnings After An Accident At Work?
If you had an accident at work for which you were injured, you could be entitled to make a personal injury claim. As part of this personal injury claim, you could be reimbursed for any loss of earnings suffered for time taken off work due to the injury.
To be eligible to make a personal injury claim, you need to show that the injuries suffered were a direct result of a breach of the employer’s duty of care. Employers owe a duty of care as a legal obligation to workers’ safety and well-being is outlined by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA).
Reasonable and practicable steps need to be taken to prevent employees from being harmed whilst at work. Therefore, three points can be used to determine negligence:
- A duty of care applied at the moment of injury.
- It was not met by the employer.
- This resulted in causing you harm, either as a physical or mental injury, or both.
Successful claims can result in two heads of loss forming the compensation. Whilst one compensates for the pain and suffering caused by the injury itself, another called special damages can compensate for the loss of earnings and other financial harm.
Special damages cannot be claimed on their own. Any physical/psychological injuries must be the reason for the financial loss. However, you could claim for special damages if you have documented proof showing the losses, such as your payslips showing the reduction in or loss of your earnings.
If you’d like personalised advice on special and general damages, call our advisors. They can run through a quick assessment of your claim and explain in detail how a solicitor could help you with every stage of the claims process.
Claim Personal Injury Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor
Whilst you are free to start a compensation claim independently, there are numerous advantages to letting a personal injury solicitor handle it. Firstly, they can help you gather evidence and collect witness statements. Also, they can ensure that your compensation is calculated more precisely, using all the evidence.
If you meet the accident at work claims eligibility, one of our solicitors could provide these services. They provide their services through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a version of the No Win No Fee contract. It typically means that the claimant can avoid any upfront or ongoing fees to the solicitor for their services. In addition to this, should the claim be unsuccessful, there is nothing owed for the solicitor’s completed services.
Also, under an agreement like a CFA, you only need to pay a small success fee if the claim settles in your favour. This is a percentage deducted from the compensation award following a successful claim. However, because the success fee is subject to a legislative cap, you always receive the majority of the compensation awarded.
An arrangement like this could help you start a personal injury claim for workplace injuries and lost earnings with a solicitor today. If you would like to find out if you are eligible to seek compensation, speak to a team member. If you are, they could connect you to one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
Why not discover more about this and sick pay when you :
- Call 0800 073 8801 to see if you can make a personal injury claim against your employer
- Contact us online.
- Use the live chat.
More Resources About Claiming Accident At Work Compensation
You might find these other guides useful:
- Read about a claim for manual handling injuries in the workplace.
- Furthermore, this resource looks at claims for understaffing at work that caused injury.
- Also, read how to claim if a colleague injured you at work in this guide.
External help:
- Here is a page about health and safety for workers from the Health and Safety Executive.
- In addition, this guide from the government explains employers liability insurance, which your employer must have.
- Guidance on first aid from the NHS.
Lastly, we appreciate your interest in our guide. Our team can answer the question ‘Am I entitled to sick pay after an accident at work?’ in more detail if you get in touch. Please use the contact options above to get started.