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Proving Your Financial Losses Following An Accident

If you are going to claim compensation to recover your financial losses following an accident, you have to prove those losses.  The list below gives guidance on the types of items for which you may be able to claim compensation. 

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Transport costs and travel expenses

Wherever you do incur public transport or taxi fares, try and keep receipts / tickets so that you can claim the extra cost of the journey. If, for example, a 10 mile journey by taxi costs £20 but would have only cost £5 in your own car, then you can claim the difference £15. Where you make a journey, even by car, which you would not have made but for the accident then you can claim the entire cost. So for example journeys to and from treatment sessions for injuries caused by the accident are reclaimable in full. If you drive then keep a note of the distance and the date as we can claim a mileage rate for each journey.

Property and clothing claims

Anything damaged or destroyed in the accident is, in theory claimable, as long as we have evidence of the cost of repair / replacement. If you still have the receipt then we will need this, alternatively proof of the replacement cost such as an estimate or catalogue clipping may suffice. We will need a complete list of the all the items which you want to claim, and if possible the age of the item. Any items not completely destroyed in the accident should be retained by you for inspection by the other driver’s insurers, just in case.

Lost earnings 

If you had to take time off work because of your accident (and this will usually be due to injuries sustained in the accident) then you may have lost basic earnings or overtime / bonuses. Even if your employer paid you for the time off, there may be a clause in your contract of employment obliging you to include the employers sick pay in your claim.  Remember that you can claim the loss of take home pay in other words after tax and national insurance. You cannot claim your gross loss. We often prove lost earnings by comparing several months worth or pre- and post-accident pay slips. If you are self-employed then we would look to your books, trading accounts, tax returns and information from your accountant. Often we also need to obtain evidence from a medical expert as to the reasonableness of the period off work, in other words does the time off work fit with the injuries you sustained.

Medical expenses

These may be relatively minor such as medication costs, ideally proven by receipts. However you may have had treatment for your injuries, from private physio or other therapies through to more expensive surgical procedures on a private basis. Wherever treatment / medical costs have been obtained always keep receipts so that we can try and recover the cost for you. If the cost was covered by private healthcare insurance then it is likely that your contract of medical insurance will oblige you to include the insurance outlay in your claim and we would liaise with them regarding the figure and evidence in support of it. We may also need a witness statement from you and a supporting opinion from a medical expert as to the reasonableness of the medical expenses.

Personal care costs

Sometimes your injuries prevent you from performing tasks that you would normally do around the home. These can be as personal as washing / dressing yourself, through to housework, DIY, decorating, gardening and so on. If you have to get someone to help you with those tasks, even though it may be family or friends at no charge to yourself, you may be able to claim the value of the care they have provided. If you have to pay for your help then you may be able to claim the cost. Evidence would take the form of receipts where available, an opinion from the medical expert as to the reasonableness of the care / assistance you required, and witness statements from you and your helper(s). As long as you tell us about your possible care claim, we can try and obtain the evidence for you.

Serious injuries and special equipment

Sometimes more serious injuries require the purchase of special equipment such as adapted vehicles, wheelchairs, bed hoists, bath aids and ramping. This can also lead on to making adaptations to your home to help you cope with your injuries. In such cases we would obtain expert evidence detailing all your equipment needs, the cost and the need for future maintenance / replacement of such items so that these can be included in your claim.

Hobbies, pastimes, holidays and loss of quality of life

Injuries affect different people in different ways. If your injuries have had a particular consequence for you, say the loss of a pre-booked holiday, an inability to participate in a much loved hobby or pastime, then it is important you tell us about this so that we can deal with it in your statement and try and ensure that your compensation takes this into account. It can be hard to put a figure on such damages but on other occasions, it is easier, say where a holiday is cancelled and you cannot recover all of the cost, or where club membership fees have been lost or wasted.

Social security benefits

Sometimes your injuries will lead to you being paid state benefits, anything from statutory sick pay to income support, job seekers allowance, and various invalidity / incapacity / disability benefits. These can affect your claim in a number of ways. Firstly at the end of the case, when you receive damages, you may find that the amount of compensation affects your eligibility for any benefits which are means tested, in other words which are only payable where your income or savings/capital are below certain levels.  As long as you have told us exactly which benefits you receive, before your damages are paid, we will be able to advise you on ways of ensuring that you receive your damages without affecting your benefits.

Secondly, in certain circumstances your benefits may have to be deducted from your compensation so that you are not paid twice. For example let us pretend that a Claimant loses their job because of their injuries. Before the accident they were earning £400 a week take home. After the accident they receive £50 per week income support. At the end of the case their compensation includes 50 weeks at £400 per week for lost earnings, so £20,000. However during that 50 weeks they would have received income support which, at £50 per week, amounts to £2,500. Their income support will be deducted from the compensation for lost earnings so that they are, effectively, not being paid that £2,500 twice.  In other words at the end of the case they get lost earnings compensation at £17,500. We have set out below a list of benefits which can be recouped in this way.

  • Benefits which can be recovered from compensation for care include Attendance Allowance and the care component of Disability Living Allowance.
  • Benefits which may be recouped from compensation from lost earnings include Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Disability Working Allowance, Disablement Pension, Invalidity Pension, Invalidity Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Reduced Earnings Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance.
  • Benefits which can be recovered from compensation for loss of mobility, in particular travel expenses include Mobility Allowance and the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance.

Handicap on the labour market

More serious injuries can sometimes affect your employability, even in cases where you remain in work following the accident. For example your injuries may prevent you from performing certain tasks so that, if you ever had to look for work in the future, there may be certain jobs which you simply could not apply for. It would take you longer to find work, putting you at a disadvantage on the labour market. You may be entitled to compensation for that loss and in appropriate cases we would seek the medical experts opinion on that point and, if favourable, seek compensation for you. The amount varies from case to case from 3 to about 24 months salary depending on the seriousness of the disadvantage.

Past losses against future losses

Your financial losses will tend to fall into two groups.

Firstly there will be losses which you have sustained as a result of the accident and you will often have receipts, pay slips and other evidence to prove them. Secondly there can be losses which, although caused by the accident, have not been incurred at the time of the settlement. For example, you may still be out of work at the date your claim is concluded and it is predicted that you will remain out of work for a period of time afterwards. You may be having treatment which is predicted to continue into the future.

We will ensure that we have evidence in support of such future losses, usually the opinion of an appropriate expert as to how long the losses will continue for and their reasonableness, so that these can be included in your compensation. A future loss continues over several years. It is likely that you will have to allow a discount to reflect the fact that the insurers are paying you a lump sum up front, which you can then invest.

For further information about how to recover your financial losses as a result of an accident contact a member of our Personal Injury Claims team.
 

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