By Lewis Hendrix. Last Updated 6th October 2025. Has your child been involved in a car crash? Did they suffer whiplash injuries as a result? If the answer is yes, you may be giving some thought to the child whiplash claim process. Fortunately, our advisors are here to help you navigate the process of claiming on your child’s behalf. Whilst many children will recover quickly from whiplash injuries, it may take longer depending on the severity.
At Accident Claims, our expert solicitors are ready to help you pursue the compensation that your child deserves. With years of high-level training and education, our solicitors provide expert advice that strictly adheres to the rules of confidentiality. As part of our services, you could also enjoy regular claim updates, help with evidence-gathering and assistance with signing legal documents.
Your Need To Know Questions Answered
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- How much can a child receive for whiplash? Whilst each claim is valued on a case-by-case basis, your child could receive up to £4,345 for whiplash and psychological injuries alone if they suffered for up to 18-24 months.
- What are the symptoms of child whiplash? Your child may complain of symptoms such as neck pain, stiffness and headaches. A child may also complain of a general tenderness or pain across their back and shoulders.
- Should you go to A&E for whiplash? If your child is complaining of pain after an accident, especially one that cannot be managed with painkillers, it’s always best to go to A&E or a GP for safety.
- What happens if whiplash is untreated? An untreated whiplash injury can cause a loss of mobility, inflammation, stiffness and swelling of the affected area.
- What evidence is needed for a whiplash claim? Helpful evidence will include a copy of your child’s medical records, CCTV footage of the accident, and photographs of visual injuries.
If anything in this guide is unclear, and you’re still not sure after reading whether you could make a car accident claim for a child, please do not hesitate to speak to an Accident Claims UK advisor:
- Call 0800 073 8801
- Use our live chat.
- Contact us online.
Select A Section
- How A Litigation Friend Could Help A Claimant Under The Age Of 18
- What Happens To Compensation Awarded To Children?
- How Much Compensation Could You Receive For Child Whiplash Claims?
- Making Child Whiplash Claims With A No Win No Fee Lawyer
- Essential Resources
How A Litigation Friend Could Help A Claimant Under The Age Of 18
The typical time limit for claiming personal injury compensation for a whiplash injury is 3 years from the date of the accident, per the Limitation Act 1980. However, in claims involving children, this works slightly differently.
If a child is under the age of 18 when injured, they cannot make a claim for themselves until they reach their 18th birthday. They would then have 3 years from this date to file their claim.
However, during the time between the accident and the date the child turns 18, an appropriate adult, such as a parent, could make a child whiplash claim on the injured child’s behalf instead, by acting as their litigation friend. A litigation friend is an appropriate adult, such as a parent, who is appointed by the court to act in the child’s best interests.
Any settlement for a child injury claim would usually be held in trust for the child to access when they come of age.
To learn more about making an injury claim as a litigation friend for a child, please contact an advisor. They could check whether you could launch a claim on the child’s behalf and tell you how to go about starting the process.
4.8 (948 reviews)What Happens To Compensation Awarded To Children?
If you make a successful child injury compensation claim, their compensation will usually be held in trust by the Court Funds Office (CFO). As their litigation friend, you will be in charge of this account until they turn eighteen.
However, you will not be able to withdraw money from the fund without a court order. You can apply for payments to be made on the child’s behalf but must be able to make a statement as to how the payment would benefit the child. You may also be asked to provide supporting evidence, such as an invoice for care costs.
The court decides how and when money is paid out from a child’s compensation fund. Usually, they decide that the child can apply to receive their compensation when they turn eighteen and will correspond with them in the weeks before their eighteenth birthday to provide more information on what they should do.
To learn more about claiming compensation on behalf of a child, contact our team today. They can answer any questions you may have about the child injury claims process, and could potentially connect you with a solicitor from our team.
How Much Compensation Could You Receive For Child Whiplash Claims?
If you’re wondering what the whiplash claims average payout is, we should point out that knowing the average payout wouldn’t give very much insight into the whiplash injury compensation payout for the claim you might be making. No two claims are precisely alike. When you make a whiplash claim for a child, there are several factors that could impact the payout.
The first is whether the claim would be subject to the whiplash reforms. The reforms brought in changes to the way claims for low-value road traffic accident claims are made.
As such, if you are an adult passenger or driver of a vehicle with whiplash or soft tissue injuries that are valued at £5,000 or less, you must make your claim via the government’s Official Injury Claims portal.
This means your whiplash and soft tissue injuries will be valued in line with the tariff set out in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. However, the tariff could still apply even if a claim doesn’t need to be made via the government’s portal. This is because the tariff applies to all occupants inside a vehicle.
We have included figures from the whiplash injury compensation tariff in the table below.
| Duration | Compensation. Tariff amount - Regulation 2(1)(a) | Compensation - Tariff amount - Regulation 2(1)(b) |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 months | £4,215 | £4,345 |
| 15-18 months | £3,005 | £3,100 |
| 12-15 months | £2,040 | £2,125 |
| 9-12 months | £1,320 | £1,390 |
| 6-9 months | £840 | £895 |
| 3-6 months | £495 | £520 |
| No more than 3 months | £240 | £260 |
If the injuries sustained are not included in the tariff, they will be valued in the traditional way.
Personal injury claims can include up to two heads of claim. General damages compensate for the pain and suffering caused by the injuries you sustained. Legal professionals can use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them when valuing this head of claim. Please only use the figures as a guide; please note that the top entry has not been taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple severe injuries with associated financial costs. | Up to £500,000+ | Multiple injuries that are severe causing pain, suffering and financial expense, such as care costs or medical expenses. |
| Neck injuries - Severe (i) | In the region of £181,020 | Where there is paraplegia (incomplete) or injuries have resulted in spastic quadriparesis that is permanent. Cases where an injured party has regained little to no movement despite wearing a collar for a period of years could be included here. |
| Neck injuries - Severe (ii) | £80,240 to £159,770 | Cases where there have been damages to the discs within the cervical spine, leading to disabilities such as substantial movement loss in the neck, and further loss in one of more of the limbs |
| Neck injuries - Severe (iii) | £55,500 to £68,330 | Where there are dislocations/fractures or damage to the soft tissue that is severe, leading to pemanent significant disability or chronic conditions. |
| Neck injuries - Moderate (i) | £30,500 to £46,970 | Severe immediate symptoms could be present, with dislocations and fractures that could lead to the claimant needing to undergo spinal fusion. There could also be referred symptoms elsewhere in the body. |
To learn more about making a whiplash claim for a child and the compensation that could be awarded, get in touch using the number above.
4.8 (948 reviews)Special Damages Which Could Be Included In A Child Whiplash Claim
You may be interested in learning that, as well as the child personal injury settlement for the injuries a child has suffered, you could also look into claiming for those costs that have been faced because the car accident that has caused whiplash. This could include:
- Earning losses. Have you been required to take time off from your job because of your child’s injuries? Or, are you expected to be off in the future for them to undergo further treatment? This may mean you have – or may in the future – less money coming in. Is this wage loss is be a result of your child’s injuries? Then compensation could be claimed for this.
- Medical costs. Whether this is private physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment, prescription costs or counselling, you may have incurred medical costs because of your child’s injuries. If you have, these may be claimable within a personal injury claim.
- Travel costs. Any reasonable travel expenses that have been incurred because of child whiplash injuries could also be included. These could include having to pay for travel to get to medical appointments.
- Care costs. Has your child has required specialist care while they were recovering? Or, will require this care long term? Care costs could also be requested as special damages within a child whiplash claim.
Whatever costs or losses you may have faced due to your child suffering a whiplash injury, why not speak to our team. You can ask whether they could be claimed for as special damages. We’d be happy to explain whether they could or not, and what proof may be required.
Making Child Whiplash Claims With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
If you are eligible to make a child whiplash compensation claim on behalf of your child, one of our lawyers may be able to help you. Furthermore, they offer you a type of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
When working with a lawyer under a CFA, you will not have to pay them anything for their services upfront or while your case is ongoing. You also will not be obligated to pay them for their work if your claim fails.
If your claim succeeds, you will pay your lawyer a success fee. This will be taken directly from your compensation as a small, legally capped percentage.
For more information about making an infant whiplash claim with one of our No Win No Fee lawyers, you can contact our advisors. To speak with a member of our advisory team, you can:
- Call 0800 073 8801
- Use our live chat.
- Contact us online.
Essential Resources
- Accident Claims UK Guide To Road Traffic Accidents -Road traffic accidents could cause lots of other injuries. Our general guide can be found here.
- Our Guide To Passenger Injury Claims – If your child was injured as a passenger in a car, you may find this guide of interest.
- NHS Whiplash Guide – The NHS page might offer some guidance on caring for someone with whiplash.
- British Medical Journal Whiplash In Children – A study into how whiplash claims present in children.
- Acting As A Litigation Friend – The GOV page on litigation friends can be found here.
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