What Happens If You Lose Your Personal Injury Claim?

Solicitor talking to a personal injury claimant

By Jo Jeffries. Last Updated 20th February 2023. Have you been injured in a road traffic accident, an accident at work, a public place accident or any other accident that was not your fault? Then you may be able to claim compensation for your injuries if they were caused by a breach of the duty of care you may have been owed. If your case is won, you’ll be compensated for your injuries and any financial losses. But what happens if you lose your personal injury claim? That’s the question we’ll address throughout this guide. We’ll also look at how much compensation might be paid if your case is won too.

Accident Claims UK can help if you do decide to claim. We will review your case and provide advice on what the next steps can be without any obligation to proceed.

To find out whether you have the grounds to make a personal injury claim, why not call today on 0800 073 8801? Alternatively, please read on to learn more about how the claims process works.

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A Guide About What Happens If You Lose Your Personal Injury Claim

In this guide, we will try to answer some questions we often hear including:

  • What happens if I lose my personal injury claim in the UK?
  • Do personal injury claims go to court?
  • Can I pull out of a No Win No Fee claim?

We’ll look at why claims are made, how much they could cost and what amount of compensation you could be paid. We’ll also look at compensation products that might help if your case doesn’t work out.

Importantly, our solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis. That means they are paid a success fee if you are compensated. They don’t receive this fee for cases that are lost. Therefore, we’ll provide more information on this later.

Something you should bear in mind is that there are time limits in which personal injury claims must be started. Generally, this is a 3-year period from when your accident happened or when you found out about your injuries. It’s important to start your claim as soon as possible so that you don’t lose out on compensation because your claim has become statute-barred.

When you have read through this guide, please feel free to call if there are any questions or if you’d like to begin a claim.

What Are Personal Injury Claims?

Here are three questions to help decide whether you can make a personal injury claim:

  • Did the defendant (the person or organisation you blame) owe you a duty of care?
  • Did they breach this duty through negligence and cause an accident?
  • Were you injured as a direct result of this accident?

If you’ve answered yes to all three questions, then you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Claims can include compensation for your pain and suffering (including physical and psychological injuries). You could also claim if you’ve lost money because of the injury.

We can help if you believe you have a valid personal injury claim. Therefore, why not call today for a free case review?

Conditional Fee Agreements

The most common No Win No Fee agreement is called a Conditional Fee Agreement or CFA. It’s important to read any CFA carefully so that you know what happens if you lose your personal injury claim or what happens if it’s won.

Before a solicitor can accept a personal injury claim, it will be reviewed thoroughly. If a solicitor agrees to represent you on a No Win No Fee basis, they’ll send you a CFA. It will explain when you’ll need to pay your solicitor.

Within the CFA, there is a section about success fees. This is a percentage of your compensation that will be deducted by your solicitor if your case is won. The quick answer to the question, “What happens if you lose your personal injury claim?”, Is, if you have hired a solicitor using a No Win No Fee agreement and you do not win you would not pay the success fee.

By law, success fees are capped at 25% of your settlement amount in personal injury claims. You’ll know exactly what you’ll pay before you sign the agreement as your solicitor will discuss it with you and it’ll be explained in the CFA too.

When claims are successful?

Should the No Win No Fee solicitor win your claim and you’re paid compensation, your solicitor will deduct the success fee from any compensation you receive.

When claims are unsuccessful?

You are not awarded compensation. If you have chosen to work with a No Win No Fee solicitor and your case is lost you do not need to pay them a success fee.

If you want one of our specialists to check if your solicitor’s services could be funded using a No Win No Fee agreement, please call our team today.

Time Limit For Personal Injury Claims – How Long After An Accident Can You Claim?

One reason someone could be unsuccessful with a personal injury claim would be if they left it too late to act. The time limit for personal injury claims to be launched is usually three years from the date of the accident or the date of knowledge. 

Should you try to claim outside of the personal injury claim time limits set in the Limitation Act 1980, your claim might be time-barred. This is why it is sometimes useful to begin the process as soon as possible after an accident. 

How Long After An Accident Can You Claim For Other People?

In some cases, however, you might have longer than three years to launch a claim. This could be the case if you are claiming on behalf of a child or someone without the mental capacity to make their own claim. You must apply to be a litigation friend to claim on their behalf. If you’re claiming for a minor, you could have until their 18th birthday to launch a claim for them. If no claim is made while they are a minor, they will have from their 18th birthday to their 21st to initiate a claim. 

If you are claiming for someone without the mental capacity to claim, there would be no date at which the claim became time-barred unless they regained capacity. If they regain capacity and no claim has been made on their behalf, they will then have 3 years to begin legal proceedings. 

To learn more about the exceptions to the personal injury claims time limit or to get started with a claim, why not get in touch? An advisor would be glad to speak to you.

Could You Lose Your Personal Injury Claim?

Solicitors will pre-vet any claim before accepting it. That means that if a solicitor accepts your case, you’ll have at least a better than 50% chance of winning. Our experience tells us that claims can be complex and tricky. We believe the best way of winning them is to take on legal representation. We also believe that having a solicitor on your side could improve what level of compensation you receive.

If your case is accepted by one of our solicitors, they will work with you to ensure they understand exactly how you have suffered. They’ll then collect the evidence needed to try and win your case. Vitally, they will deal with the defendant’s insurers or legal team so that you’re not bombarded with technical legal questions.

If you’d like to know whether one of our solicitors could help you claim, please get in touch with our team today.

After The Event (ATE) Insurance Cover

ATE insurance is important when making a personal injury claim. It is used to protect you from having to pay the defendant’s costs in unsuccessful claims.

Before the claim begins, your solicitor will ask if would like to purchase this type of insurance cover. There may be different levels of cover for you to consider. It gives you peace of mind that you won’t be financially worse off if you lose your claim.

How Do I Win My Personal Injury Claim?

When claiming compensation, you’ll need evidence to demonstrate:

  • What happened.
  • Who was to blame.
  • The extent of your injuries.

Therefore, there are some steps that could help you to secure evidence following an accident that you might want to take. They include:

  • Reporting the accident. Where you’re injured in an accident at work or a public place accident, organisations must keep an accident report book. You should be given a copy of the report and it could be used to help prove the date, time and location of your accident.
  • Medical treatment. We suggest that for any type of accident you should seek medical assistance for your injuries. A visit to your GP, A&E or a minor injuries unit will mean you’re treated correctly. Medical reports can be requested later on to help prove the extent of your injuries.
  • Photograph the scene. Following any type of accident, capturing the scene can help you to recall what happened. Where it is safe to do so, you should attempt to take photographs before anything is moved.
  • Witness details. If anybody else saw what happened, write down their contact details. A statement from them later on, might corroborate your version of events.
  • Dashcam or CCTV footage. Where your accident was captured on camera, request a copy. This can be an excellent way to prove how you were injured.

We are happy to review any evidence you’ve collected for free. After that, we can provide advice on the chances of starting a claim.

Personal Injury And Money Claim Statistics

We are briefly going to look at some statistics from the Compensation Recovery Unit CRU relating to civil claims for the period 2020/21. These figures relate to a period during the COVID-19 pandemic so you may have to factor this in when analysing this data.

The figures show us that:

  • Between 2020/21 claims for medical negligence, employer liability, road traffic accident, public liability, other and unknown, amounted to 564,359.
  • There was a decrease in the number of claims from the previous year which was calculated at 829,252 (2019/20).
  • However more was awarded in compensation from £120.642 million to £129.820 million.

How Is Injury Compensation Calculated?

In this section, we’d like to look at potential compensation figures. Therefore, we have provided a table containing a range of injuries from the Judicial College below. Don’t worry if we haven’t included your injury, you can call us or use live chat to find out how much your claim might be worth.

The figures in our table are for general damages which covers any pain, suffering and loss of amenity. They are to be used as a guide only as every claim is different, these figures are taken from the Judicial College publication that lists past court settlement figures for general damages. We will look at special damages in the next section.

Compensation table

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Type of Injury Severity Level Compensation Bracket Notes and Information
Arm Severe (a) £96,160 to £130,930 Injuries in this category will fall short of needing amputation. However, the outcome for the claimant will be the same as if the arm had been lost.
Neck Moderate (i) £24,990 to £38,490 Fractures, dislocations and the like where immediate severe symptoms are seen.
Back Moderate (ii) £12,510 to £27,760 Prolapsed discs necessitating laminectomy or resulting in repeated relapses.
Knee Moderate (i) £14,840 to £26,190 Covers injuries like a dislocation of the knee resulting in minor instability, weakness and future mild disability.
Arm Fracture (d) £6,610 to £19,200 Fractures of the forearm.
Shoulder Serious (c) £7,890 to £12,770 Frozen shoulder which causes a limit arm restriction and discomfort that should heal with 2 years.
Back Minor (ii) £4,350 to £7,890 Soft tissue injuries of the back where full recovery takes less than 2 years.
Eye Transient (i) £2,200 to £3,950 Eye injuries where a full recovery occurs within a few weeks.

Importantly, compensation brackets are based on the severity of your injury. As a result, you’ll need a medical assessment during your claim to help assess this. Our solicitors can book you in to see an independent specialist locally so that you don’t need to travel too far. During your meeting, the specialist will examine your injuries, discuss their impact and check over your medical records.

Once the meeting is over, they’ll send a report to your solicitor regarding your prognosis.

What Are Examples Of Special Damages?

If you make a successful personal injury claim you could be awarded two sets of damages. These are general and special damages. In the section above we saw how general damages are calculated. In this section, we shall look at special damages which cover financial losses caused by the injury or illness.

You shouldn’t think of this as a penalty or fine for the defendant, though. You can only claim for money that you have lost or may lose in the future and you must provide evidence to prove those losses.

Special damages claims will vary from case to case but could include:

  • Lost income. Used to cover any money you have lost because your injuries prevented you from working.
  • Travel expenses. Public transport fares, fuel costs or parking fees when you attend medical appointments, for example. Therefore, you could request for these costs to be paid back.
  • Medical expenses. While NHS treatment is free, you might need to pay for over the counter medication or prescription fees. Additionally, you might incur costs for non-NHS services. Any of these costs could be claimed back if they are caused as a direct result of your injuries.
  • Care costs. If you were supported by a friend, family member or carer while you recovered, you could claim back any associated costs.
  • Modifications to your home. If adaptations to your home or vehicle make it easier to cope with long-term injuries, the cost of making the changes could be claimed back.
  • Future lost income. Where there is a long-term adverse effect on your ability to work, you might need to claim for future lost earnings too. The level of award will be based on age, salary and job prospects.

Why Choose Us

We believe that if you’re represented by a personal injury solicitor, you’ll increase your chances of being compensated fairly. So why work with Accident Claims UK? Well, our team of solicitors specialise in personal injury claims. They are all registered at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

Our service is as efficient as possible because everything could be handled over the phone, by email and online. If you want to meet with your solicitor face to face we can arrange this too. If your case is accepted, your solicitor will handle almost everything for you and strive to achieve the maximum level of compensation possible for you.

Talk To Us

We hope that you now know what happens if you lose your personal injury claim. If you are ready to discuss your options with us, we can be contacted by:

Our team provide free legal advice about claiming whether you decide to take action or not. To make things easier, our claims line is open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.

Learn More About What Happens If You Lose Your Personal Injury Claim

In this section, you will find some links to extra resources and more of our guides that might help you during your claim.

NHS Address Finder – If you need to request copies of your medical records, this tool can help you find the right address.

Low-Value Whiplash Claims – The latest government information on the Whiplash Reform Programme.

The Solicitors Register – Where you can check that a solicitor is SRA registered.

Shop Accident Claims – This guide shows what you could do if you are injured whilst shopping.

Loss Of Earnings – More information on how to claim if your income has been affected following an accident.

Allergic Reaction Claims – Details of when you could be compensated for any suffering caused by an allergic reaction.

Get more info on careless driving vs dangerous driving and how to claim compensation following a road traffic accident with our guide.

FAQs About What Happens If You Lose Your Personal Injury Claim

This is the final section of our guide on what happens if you lose your personal injury claim. Therefore, we have taken this opportunity to answer some questions about the claims process below:

Can I cancel my claim?

You can cancel your claim any time you want to. However, if you are working with a solicitor under a No Win No Fee agreement depending on the agreement you signed with them, you may incur fees.

Do injury claims go to court?

Very few personal injury claims end up in court. One of the main reasons that is true is because solicitors only take on cases they believe have strong grounds. Generally, claims are settled one way or another between the claimant and the defendant. However, where a settlement can’t be agreed on, court proceedings could help to settle the matter.

Thanks for reading our guide on what happens if you lose your personal injury claim.