Whiplash Recovery Time And Claims Guide

By Danielle Griffin. Last Updated 16th March 2023. Welcome to our guide on whiplash recovery time. Are you wondering how long the average recovery time for whiplash is because you have suffered this kind of injury and haven’t yet recovered? Or are you looking at claiming for a previous whiplash injury and want to know how the recovery time frame may affect your whiplash injury claim payout?

Whiplash recovery time1. whiplash injury compensation 2. claim for whiplash injury 3. compensation for whiplash injury"

Whiplash recovery time

This whiplash recovery guide provides useful information and guidance on what you need to know about making a personal injury claim of this nature and also explains how long it may take to recover, the personal injury claims time limit, and why No Win No Fee solicitors could provide assistance when filing a whiplash injury claim.

Should you have any further questions about whiplash recovery time, treatment options, or other injuries to the neck and shoulders, or you’re ready to begin a claim with a personal injury lawyer from our panel, get in touch with our team:

Choose A Section

Whiplash Recovery Time – What Are The Causes Of Whiplash?

To learn about whiplash recovery time, let’s first look at the injuries themselves.

Whiplash is, essentially, a soft tissue injury to the neck, which happens when the head moves suddenly and violently forward and back, or sideways, in a jerking movement. It is the ligaments and tendons that support your neck, and if these are stretched and put under strain, soft tissue damage could occur. It could affect your range of motion in some cases.

Whiplash could be caused in a number of different accidents, which includes the following:

  • An assault
  • Sporting activity
  • A road accident

The most common cause of this type of injury occurs in road traffic accidents which a high-impact rear accident or low-speed collision. If an accident caused your whiplash and it was someone else’s fault, you may be able to claim compensation for your pain, your suffering, and any costs that you had to bear as a direct result of the injury.

Whiplash Recovery Time – Can Symptoms Get Worse Over Time?

The stiffness and neck pain associated with whiplash often gets worse over the few days following an accident. While many whiplash injuries resolve by themselves over a short period of time, in some cases, symptoms could get worse as time passes, which could extend your whiplash recovery time to months or even, in extreme cases, years.

Whiplash recovering time is not predictable, but risk factors that could be linked to a longer recovery time may include:

  • A previous whiplash injury
  • Age
  • Pre-existing back, neck and pain (or difficulty moving your head)

What Is The Whiplash Injury Claim Time Limit?

Regardless of your whiplash recovery time, if you would like to make a claim, you must start legal proceedings within the limitation period. This is typically three years from the date of the accident that caused your injuries. It is set by the Limitation Act 1980.

However, some circumstances pause the time limit for injured parties who cannot start legal proceedings themselves. In these circumstances, a litigation friend can be appointed to seek personal injury compensation on their behalf.

Injured parties who cannot claim for themselves include:

  • Children under 18. The limitation period is paused until their 18th birthday. After this date, they have three years to start proceedings if a claim has not been started by a litigation friend.
  • Those who lack the mental capacity to start a claim will have the time limit indefinitely paused. If they regain capacity and a claim was not started on their behalf, they have three years from that date to begin legal proceedings.

If you want to know how long whiplash claims take, our advisors can help. You can call them for free legal advice. Additionally, if your claim seems eligible, they can get it started for you right away.

How Much Compensation Could I Get For Whiplash Injuries?

Personal injury settlements can comprise general damages and special damages. General damages compensate for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries.

Solicitors can value this head of claim using the Judicial College Guidelines which contains compensation brackets for different injuries. We have included these in the table below. You should only use them as a guide though.

Edit
Injury Bracket Notes
Neck injury/ies – Moderate (i) £24,990 to £38,490 Chronic injuries, fractures and dislocations could be included here. There could be a higher level of vulnerability for future trauma, or long term loss of function.
Neck injury/ies – Moderate (ii) £13,740 to £24,990 Wrenching injuries and disc lesions could be included here. Long periods of pain and suffering may deem your injury moderate enough to be included in this bracket
Neck injury/ies – Moderate (i) £7,890 to £13,740 If your injury has aggravated another condition, or you’ve suffered a longer recovery period, or if your injuries could leave you vulnerable to future harm, this bracket could be appropriate for your claim.
Neck injury/ies – Minor Up to £7,890 Payouts under this bracket would depend on how much the injury has affected your ability to work, whether there was back pain involved and how much pain you might have suffered. Usually injuries within this bracket will heal within 2 years.
Mental Anguish £4,670 Fear of impending death
Fracture of Clavicle £5,150 to £12,240 Award depends on extent of fracture

How Can The Whiplash Reforms Affect My Compensation?

The Whiplash Reform Programme brought in changes to the way claims for low-value road traffic accidents are made. As per the reforms, if you are a passenger or driver of a vehicle and you are over the age of 18 with whiplash injuries valued at £5,000 or less, you will need to make your claim via the government’s Official Injury Claims portal.

Whiplash injuries will be valued in line with the tariff of injuries set out in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. These tariffs apply to all occupants inside a vehicle. 

It’s important to note that if you do not claim through the Official Injury Claims portal, your whiplash injuries could still be valued in line with the tariff of injuries. If you have other injuries that are not included in the tariff they will be valued in the traditional way. 

Edit
Severity Tariff Amount Duration of injury
Whiplash Reforms Minor Injuries – Table B amount £4,345 Over 18 months, but no more than 24 months
Whiplash Reforms Minor Injuries – Table B amount £3,100 Over 15 months, but no more than 18 months
Whiplash Reforms Minor Injuries – Table B amount £2,125 Over 12 months, but no more than 15 months

If you would like further guidance on what damages could be included in a claim for whiplash or what route to compensation you would need to take, get in touch with the helpline. An advisor would be happy to help you.

Could I Claim Special Damages For Whiplash Injuries?

Claims for this type of injury, no matter what your whiplash recovery time happens to be, may not just include the pain and the suffering that you experienced because of your injury. If you have lost money because you were off work recovering from your injury and could not perform your usual tasks, you could claim for these losses. Likewise, if you have incurred extra costs because of your whiplash injury, you might find that these could be covered by your claim. This could include the following:

  • Travel expenses (including parking charges, bus/taxi fares)
  • Medical expenses such as private physiotherapy or pain medications

If you incurred a cost for anything directly connected to your injury, you would need to provide receipts to support your expenditure.

No Win No Fee Whiplash Injury Claims

Regardless of your whiplash recovery time, you could be entitled to make a claim for your injury, of which legal help could significantly boost your chances of securing compensation.

When you are considering making a whiplash claim, you may want to retain the services of a personal injury solicitor who offers No Win No Fee terms. As part of this type of agreement, you’re not required to pay your lawyer unless they win your case for you.

This Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) that you sign establishes that you will pay your lawyer in the event of a successful claim. This payment would be a percentage of the payout amount and will likely be referred to within your agreement as a ‘success fee’.

The main benefits of making No Win No Fee claims would include the following:

  • Not being required to fund your claim out of your own pocket
  • Having less financial risk of further losses
  • Knowing your solicitor would only be likely to take on claims they felt were strong enough to secure compensation

In some cases, your solicitor may speak to you about taking out an insurance policy to cover you in the event of an unsuccessful claim. If you’d like to know more about this and the costs involved, please do give us a call, and we could explain further.

For more information on whiplash recovery time, please read on.

Talk To Accident Claims UK About Your Whiplash Injury

Do you think you might be ready to begin a claim with us, or would you like further advice on making a claim for pain, suffering and losses you’ve had to bear throughout your whiplash recovery time?

When you talk to our team of advisers, we will go through all the details of what has happened to you. We may ask you numerous questions relating to your case, so we can be sure we have all of the details needed to assess your case. Once we have all this, we’ll offer some advice and guidance on what you could do next. If we think it may be possible for you to claim compensation, we could offer to provide a solicitor to you in order to build a claim against the liable party.

If you don’t want a lawyer at this point and are not ready to claim, then we will not pressure you into doing so. All our advice is free of charge, and we do not hold you under any obligation to use our services.

If, however, you do decide to allow us to help with your claim, we could provide you with a lawyer working on a No Win No Fee basis. We are proud of the services we and our lawyers offer and will work with you in any way we can to offer you guidance and support with your whiplash injury claim.

Contact An Advisor Today To Learn More About Whiplash Claims

Whichever way you prefer to get in touch, our panel of personal injury lawyers is here to offer assistance. To get in touch with our team:

Essential Links Relating To Whiplash Recovery Time

Thank you for reading our guide on the  whiplash recovery time and how you could make a claim following a whiplash injury.