How To Make Child Injury Claims On Behalf Of A Minor?

If your child has suffered an injury, you may be wondering if they could receive compensation for the harm they have suffered and for how their life has been impacted. Additionally, their injuries may have caused you to suffer financial losses and you may be wondering whether you could be reimbursed for these finances. Within this guide, we discuss when you could make a personal injury claim on your child’s behalf and the eligibility requirements that need to be met for all child injury claims.

We will discuss some of the places where your child is owed a duty of care and how a breach of this duty could lead to your child being harmed. Furthermore, we will explain when you could claim on their behalf and the evidence you could gather to help support you when claiming compensation following your child’s accident.

Compensation is also discussed in detail, and we look at how it is calculated and what it can cover. The final section explores the advantages of appointing one of the personal injury solicitors on our panel to work on your child injury claim on a No Win No Fee basis.

Contact our advisors today to discuss your child personal injury claim and receive free advice on the potential steps you could take:

A child with her arm in a sling while her mother talks to a doctor in the background.

Jump To A Section

  1. When Could You Make A Child Injury Claim?
  2. How To Make Child Injury Claims
  3. When Will My Child Receive Compensation?
  4. Potential Compensation For Child Injury Claims
  5. Why Make A Child Accident Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?
  6. Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

When Could You Make A Child Injury Claim?

There are various situations where your child will be owed a duty of care. This is a legal obligation to protect someone’s health and safety.

For example, while out in public, your child will be owed a duty of care by the controller of that space under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Per their duty of care, they need to ensure the reasonable safety of those visiting that public space by carrying out the necessary steps and measures. Your child could be injured, for example, if a supermarket failed to signpost a spillage in an aisle, causing your child to slip and suffer a leg injury.

Additionally, while using the roads as a pedestrian or a passenger of a vehicle, your child is owed a duty of care by other road users. Everyone who uses the roads must do so in a safe and responsible manner to avoid causing a road traffic accident, as is their duty of care. They must also adhere to the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code. Your child could suffer a serious head injury, for example, if they were hit by a speeding motorist who failed to come to a stop while your child was using a zebra crossing.

All child injury claims need to meet the following criteria to be deemed as valid:

  • A duty of care was owed to your child at the time and place of their accident.
  • The party that owed your child this duty of care breached it.
  • As a direct result, your child suffered physical injury, psychological harm or both.

Together, these three points define negligence.

What Is The Time Limit For Child Accident Claims?

Typically, personal injury claims need to be started within the 3-year time limit that is set out within the Limitation Act 1980.

However, those injured under the age of 18 are unable to launch a claim of their own until their 18th birthday. From which, they will have three years to begin the claiming process. If your child has been injured, you could apply to be a litigation friend to make a claim on their behalf prior to their 18th birthday. As a litigation friend, you are expected to act in your child’s best interests.

Other exceptions apply to those who lack the mental capacity to manage their own claim. If you have any questions regarding the time limit for child injury claims, or to learn what other exceptions apply, you can contact our advisors.

Close-up of a child having a bandage applied to their knee.

How To Make Child Injury Claims

When making a personal injury claim on behalf of your child, you will need to have sufficient evidence that proves your child’s injury and who was liable for it.

Some examples of evidence that could be gathered for child injury claims include:

  • CCTV or dashcam footage that captured the accident.
  • Photographs of your child’s injuries.
  • Eyewitness contact details, as they may be able to provide a statement at a later date.
  • Copies of your child’s medical records, detailing what injuries they suffered and the medical treatment they received.

If a solicitor is helping you claim compensation on your child’s behalf, they can assist you with gathering evidence as part of their services.

If you have any further questions on how to prove a personal injury claim, you can contact one of the friendly advisors on our team. They may also connect you with a solicitor on our panel if they deem you to have a strong claim.

When Will My Child Receive Compensation?

As we previously stated, children are unable to make their own claim. However, if you successfully claim compensation on their behalf as a litigation friend, the money they are awarded will be held in a Court Fund Account until they are 18.

A few weeks prior to their 18th birthday, they will be contacted by the Court Funds Office about accessing their compensation.

However, it could be possible to take money out of this account prior to their 18th birthday. For example, if your child needs the money due to having to pay for medical expenses related to their injury. You will need to submit evidence and your reasoning for why you want to claim some of their compensation out of this account.

Contact our advisory team today if you have any questions regarding how compensation is awarded in child injury claims.

Potential Compensation For Child Injury Claims

If you make a successful personal injury claim on your child’s behalf, their compensation will include the head of loss known as general damages. This provides compensation for the physical and mental injuries your child suffered in their accident.

To affix a value to general damages, the people who calculate them refer to available medical evidence. They can also consult documents such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This publication offers guideline compensation amounts for a variety of different injuries according to type and severity.

You can see an excerpt of some of these injuries in the table below. Please not that these figures are to be used as guidelines only, and that the first entry has not been taken from the JCG.

Compensation Guidelines

InjurySeverityCompensationNotes
Multiple Severe Injuries and Special DamagesSevere Up to £1,000,000+Multiple types of severe injuries and special damages awards for medical expenses, loss of earnings and adaptations needed to home.
Head(a) Very Severe £344,150 to £493,000Cases of little meaningful response to environment and the requirement for full-time nursing.
(d) Less Severe £18,700 to £52,550A good recovery but issues may still persist with memory and concentration.
Neck(a) Severe (i)In the area of £181,020Cases of incomplete paraplegia or where there is little or no movement despite constantly wearing a support collar.
Knee(a) Severe (ii)£63,610 to £85,100Fractures that travel into the knee joint causing constant pain and limited movement.
Leg(b) Severe (iv) Moderate£33,880 to £47,840A single leg has suffered a crush injury or multiple fractures.
Arm (c) Less Severe £23,430 to £47,810Despite a significant disability, a good recovery level is expected to take place or has already.
Foot(f) Moderate£16,770 to £30,500A permanent foot deformity due to displaced metatarsal fractures that also cause continuing symptoms.
Elbow(c) Moderate or Minor InjuryUp to £15,370Simple fractures and tennis elbow cases as well as lacerations that create no permanent damage or impaired function.
Eyes(h) Minor Injuries£4,820 to £10,660Includes cases of being struck in the eye causing temporary visual interference.

Special Damages In A Child Injury Claim

You may have suffered financial losses due to your child’s injuries. For example, you may have expereinced a loss of earnings due to needing to take time off work to care for your child. You could be able to claim for these lost wages under the secondary head of loss known as special damages.

Examples of other financial losses you may be able to claim for include:

  • Your child’s medical bills.
  • Childcare and costs.
  • The expense of adaptations needed in your home or vehicle to help with your child’s injuries.
  • Travel expenses to vital medical appointments.

Evidence will need to be submitted when claiming special damages for these financial losses. This could include payslips, invoices and receipts.

Contact our advisors today to learn more about what other financial losses could be compensated within child injury claims.

Why Make A Child Accident Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?

When making a claim on behalf of your child, you may wish to instruct a solicitor to help you. The solicitors on our panel have lots of experience dealing with child injury claims, and they could help you with gathering evidence and negotiating your child’s settlement among other things.

Additionally, they may offer their services to you on a No Win No Fee basis under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Some benefits of claiming under this arrangement include:

  • You don’t need to pay upfront fees for the solicitor to start working on your case.
  • As the claim develops, the solicitors don’t ask for payment for their services.
  • If the claim is unsuccessful, they ask for no payment for their completed services.

In fact, under a CFA, the solicitor will only need to be paid for their work if the claim is a success. A restricted percentage called a success fee is deducted from the compensation awarded to you. Because the amount is restricted, you will always receive the majority of your compensation.

To learn more about how one of the No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel could help you with making a child injury compensation claim, you can contact our advisors. They are here to help answer your questions and offer you free advice regarding the claiming process:

A solicitor explaining the child injury claims process to a client.

Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

More guides by us on making a personal injury claim:

Additional external resources:

Thank you for reading this claim on how to make child injury claims. If you have any questions about claiming compensation on behalf of your child, you can contact our advisors.