How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim

By Daniel Riker. Last Updated 15th June 2022. If you’re interested in claiming compensation for an injury, you may be wondering how to prove a personal injury claim. This guide will explain why proving negligence in a personal injury claim is vital and confirm the types of evidence you could provide to support a claim for compensation. It will also explain the different types of incidents you may be able to claim for. 

How to prove a personal injury claim

A guide on how to prove a personal injury claim

If you have any questions about providing proof for a personal injury claim, please get in touch with our team of advisors at a time that suits you. They offer free legal advice and can put you through to a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor from our panel. Furthermore, they’re available 24/7, which means that you can get in touch at a time that suits you. 

Contact us using the details below: 

Read on to learn more about the personal injury claims process. 

Select a Section

  1. An Introduction On How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim
  2. A Breakdown Of Personal Injury Claims
  3. How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim
  4. Personal Injury Statistics
  5. Calculating Compensation For A Personal Injury Claim
  6. The Benefits Of Working With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
  7. Contact Us Today About How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim

An Introduction On How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim

Proving a personal injury claim is vital to receiving compensation. You would only be able to receive compensation for this if the person who injured you had a duty of care towards you, which they breached. 

Different personal injury claim types include:

Furthermore, the injury would need to have negatively impacted your life before you can make a personal injury claim. The amount of compensation you could receive is based on many factors, including the extent of the injury and whether you experience any permanent side effects. 

To know more about how to prove a personal injury claim, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our advisors for free legal advice. They can also provide you with a compensation estimate to give you a better idea of what you could receive.

A Breakdown Of Personal Injury Claims 

When you claim compensation for an injury that you’ve sustained, it’s important that the injury was caused by a breach of duty of care. A duty of care is a responsibility that someone has to protect another person or people from injury or harm. 

In addition to this, you need to show that the party you’re claiming against breached this duty of care. If you were injured, but the party who owed you a duty of care did everything they could to keep you safe from harm, you’d be unlikely to be able to claim.

Finally, you need to demonstrate that the breach of duty of care led directly to your injuries. You cannot claim for a breach of duty of care itself; you must have suffered physical or psychological injuries.

It’s only by proving all three of these things that you’ll be able to receive compensation. This is why knowing how to prove a personal injury claim is so important. 

Explaining the personal injury claim time limit

Another important factor in a personal injury claim is the time limit that applies. The Limitation Act 1980 states that you need to claim within a particular time period for your claim to be successful. In most instances, you need to claim within three years of the injury taking place or three years from the date you became aware that your symptoms were caused by negligence. 

However, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, if you want to claim for an injury that occurred as a child, you have three years from the date of your eighteenth birthday to begin claims proceedings if a claim hasn’t already been made. While you’re under 18, a litigation friend could claim on your behalf, and they can do so at any point until you turn 18. 

A litigation friend can also claim on behalf of someone who lacks the mental capacity to do so themselves. While they lack the mental capacity to claim, the time limit is suspended. It begins again in the event that they recover.

How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim

You may be wondering, “how can I prove a personal injury claim?” Evidence relating to your injury is crucial to proving third-party negligence. This is because the onus is on you, as the person claiming, to prove that their negligence was the primary cause of your injury. 

One important part of proving a personal injury claim is getting an independent medical assessment of your injury. This can be important to establish a causal link between the third party’s actions and your injury. They will assess the nature of the incident, confirm how badly you’ve been injured and evaluate the likelihood of the incident causing the injury. 

Usually, you’ll be invited to a medical assessment as part of your claim. A solicitor from our panel may be able to arrange this in your local area to reduce the amount you have to travel.

Other types of evidence you may be able to use include: 

  • CCTV footage
  • Witness statements- you can collect contact details at the time so a statement can be taken at a later date
  • Photographic evidence of your injury and the accident scene

To know more about the evidence needed to prove a personal injury claim, please refer to our team of advisors. They can confirm the kind of evidence you need and if you’re eligible to make a personal injury claim. 

Personal Injury Statistics 

how to prove a personal injury claim statistics graph

The Department for Transport provides road traffic accident statistics for Great Britain. One of the key statistics shows the estimated number of reported casualties occurring on the road each year. This helps spread awareness as to the dangers of using the road and why, as a road user, it’s important to be as safe and responsible as possible. 

As you can see above, with statistics relating to the year ending June 2021, an estimated 1,390 people were involved in fatal accidents using the roads within that period. Additionally, 23,140 people were seriously injured, and 95,320 were slightly injured. In total, over those twelve months, there were 119,850 casualties of all severities. 

If you’ve been injured in a road traffic accident, you may be able to claim. Contact us using the details above at any time that suits you to find out more about your eligibility. 

Calculating Compensation For A Personal Injury Claim

Now that you have more information on how to prove a personal injury claim, you may be wondering how much compensation you could receive. Your claim could be made up of two potential heads: general and special damages. General damages relate to physical and psychological pain caused by the injury. Special damages relate to the financial losses suffered as a result of the injury. 

Factors that can affect the amount of compensation you could receive include:

  • The severity of the injury
  • Whether the injury has any long-term repercussions or symptoms
  • The impact that the injury has had on your quality of life. 

Guidelines from the Judicial College help to give you a better understanding of general damages compensation that can be awarded for particular injuries. They’re based on past compensation awards that have been made. We’ve used their guidelines to create the table below. 

Injury TypeCompensation AmountDescription
Eye£54,830 to £65,710The injury in this bracket causes the total loss of one eye, with no negative impact or effects to the other.
Reproductive System: Male£43,010 to £88,750Cases in this bracket cause impotence that is usually permanent to a middle-aged man who has already had children.
Chest£31,310 to £54,830An injury in this bracket causes damage to lung(s) and chest causing some continuing disability.
Bladder£23,410 to £31,310This injury would lead to an almost complete recovery. However, there would still be some fairly long-term interference with the bladder's natural function.
Psychiatric Damage Generally- Severe£19,070 to £54,830Injuries in this bracket lead to significant problems to aspects of the injured person's life such as future vulnerability and their ability to cope with education, work and life.
Neck- Moderate (iii) £7,890 to £13,740Injuries in this bracket cause an exacerbation or acceleration of a pre-existing condition, usually by less than five years.
Back- Severe (iii) £38,780 to £69,730Injuries in this bracket involve disc fractures or disc lesions causing chronic conditions such as continuing severe discomfort and pain as well as impaired agility.
Shoulder- Severe £19,200 to £48,030This bracket often includes injuries that also cause damage to the neck due to the injury involving the brachial plexus.
Injuries to the Pelvis and Hip£26,590 to £39,170Injuries in this bracket lead to a significant hip or pelvic injury but any permanent disability is not major.
Elbow- Moderate or Minor Up to £12,590The majority of elbow injuries are included in this category, such as tennis elbow syndrome, lacerations and simple fractures.

Please bear in mind that, while they can be a useful guideline, receiving the amounts below for the respective injuries isn’t guaranteed. If you’d like a more accurate assessment of your claim or free legal advice on how to prove a personal injury claim, you can get in touch with our team today. 

How To Prove Financial Losses in a Personal Injury Claim

Certain costs may arise that you can attribute to your injuries. These costs and losses are known as special damages.

You may be wondering how to prove in a personal injury claim that you have suffered financially as a result of your injuries. You would need to acquire evidence of any relevant transactions and losses. Here are some examples:

  • Loss of earnings – An injury may mean that your ability to work is affected. As a result, your income may suffer. In order to be reimbursed for this loss, you will need to present payslips to prove how much you would have earned over this period. This can include your salary, pension, or even sums relating to bonuses.
  • Medical expenses – You may require prescription medication to aid in your recovery. Make sure you hold onto a copy of the prescription slip to prove costs.
  • Travel costs – It’s possible you may have to pay for public transport if your ability to drive has been compromised. You should keep copies of receipts.
  • Care costs – You may require additional help at home following your injury. You may receive invoices or receipts for this that could be helpful.

For more information on special damages and the evidence that can help support your claim, get in touch with our advisors today.

The Benefits Of Working With A No Win No Fee Solicitor

You may feel more confident in how to prove a personal injury claim after reading this guide but still feel that you’d like to pursue compensation with the guidance and support of an expert solicitor. However, you might be concerned about the upfront legal costs often associated with this. 

If so, you might be interested in funding legal representation through a No Win No Fee agreement. This means that: 

  • There’ll be nothing upfront to pay your solicitor and no ongoing fees once they start working on your claim. 
  • If your claim isn’t successful, you won’t pay them anything at all. 
  • In the event that your claim is successful, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your compensation. This is legally capped to prevent you from being overcharged.

If this is of interest to you, then get in touch with our team at a time that suits you. If your claim is valid, you could be connected with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel to represent you on this basis.

Contact Us Today About How To Prove A Personal Injury Claim

To learn more about how to prove a personal injury claim, please contact our advisors free of charge at a time that works for you. They can tell you if you’re eligible to claim and even provide you with a compensation estimate. Furthermore, they can put you through to our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors if your claim has a good chance of success. 

You can contact us with the details below to see if you can claim compensation for an injury caused by third-party negligence. 

  • Call us on 0113 460 1215
  • Contact us through our website.
  • If you prefer, write to us using our Live Chat service

Further Resources

To learn more about how to prove a personal injury, please use the links below. 

If you’ve broken a bone and would like medical guidance, please refer to the NHS website. 

The HSE provides guidance about reporting accidents and illnesses in the workplace. 

Would you like some statistics about health and safety at work? If so, visit this page on the HSE website. 

Below, you can find links to more of our guides on personal injury claims:

We hope that this guide on how to prove a personal injury claim has been helpful. Thank you for reading.