faqs
Feel free to browse our frequently asked questions.
We will start with asking you what caused your accident and what witnesses you have. At the same time, we will need to know as much as possible about your injuries and how they have affected you. Finally, we will want to know as much as possible about the person or organisation at fault for your accident.
Then, using our experience and knowledge of the laws and regulations that govern the various different types of accident claims, we will be able to give you a free initial assessment of the chances of success for your claim.
In all likelihood, yes. It is compulsory for all employers to have insurance for personal injury claims and all vehicles on the road must also be insured (although schemes do exist which cover claims against uninsured and untraced drivers). Also, most public places are insured for claims made by injured members of the public.
The general rule is that you have 3 years from the date of your accident to bring a compensation claim for personal injury, but you should never leave things until the last minute.
However if you were under the age of 18 when you had your accident, you would have until your 21st birthday to bring your claim.
Finally, if your claim is for a work related disease, such as industrial dermatitis, you would normally have 3 years from the date that you were diagnosed with the disease.
If you are in any doubt, contact us now to seek free advice on the issue and we will seek to put your mind at rest.
No, not at all. Throughout your claim you have the absolute right to choose your own Solicitor.
After we have taken down full details of your accident and correctly identified who to bring the claim against, your appointed solicitor will write a formal letter of claim, setting out the accident circumstances, the injuries you sustained and why they believe they are responsible for them. They would then have just less than 4 months to come to a decision on whether they admit or deny responsibility.
If they admit responsibility for your accident, your solicitor will arrange for you to be seen by a medical expert who will prepare a report and will draw up a list of your financial losses. When everything is in place they will send these to the other side and begin negotiations to try and agree a figure for your compensation.
If they deny responsibility for your accident, your solicitor will work with you and your witnesses to turn around this decision and if necessary issue court proceedings to put more pressure on them to change their minds
All claims are different and it is simply not possible to make any accurate predictions about how long claims can take. However, as a rough rule of thumb, from our experience, if the other side quickly admit responsibility for your claim, the medical report is uncomplicated and the other side sensibly negotiate, it should be possible to agree a figure for compensation within 9 -12 months of starting your claim, perhaps even more quickly if your claim is for a road accident.
All claims could potentially end up in court, but the reality is that they rarely do. In fact although many claims are issued through the courts, only around 2% of claims actually go all the way to a court trial.
Not unless you want to. All but the most complex of claims are usually capable of being run without face to face meetings and most clients prefer to deal with us over the telephone or by email.
As often as you like or only when there are material developments in your claim. You are free to choose.
At the start of your claim, we will assess what funding avenues are available to you. If you have suitable "before the event" legal expenses insurance your appointed solicitor will try to use this. If not, then they will enter into a Conditional Fee Agreement (commonly known as No Win No Fee) with you. Either way, you will never be asked to pay up front for your appointed solicitors services.
For us it means that if your claim is unsuccessful and you have co-operated throughout your claim, your appointed solicitors will not charge you a penny. A precise definition will be provided by your appointed solicitor when they send you their terms of business and explanatory documentation.
No never, unless you bring a fraudulent claim or fail to co-operate and this leads to wasted legal costs and disbursements (eg. fees raised by medical experts for your failure to attend a pre arranged appointment).
Yes, as your appointed solicitors will not be able to value your claim without a medical report from a carefully chosen expert. However, they will always do their best to try to use an expert who is local to you.
Yes, your employer is legally obliged to provide your appointed solicitor with full details of your pay, both before your accident and after it. From this, they would calculate your loss of earnings and claim for this.
If you are an agency worker, they would get this information from the agency that you worked for at the time of the accident.
If you are self employed, they should be able to calculate your loss of earnings from your tax returns or with help from your Accountant.
If the insurers have admitted responsibility for your claim, it is normally possible to get them to voluntarily pay you an interim payment of a reasonable amount. If they refuse, your appointed solicitor will consider whether it is appropriate to issue court proceedings and force them to make an interim payment by making an application.
Until your appointed solicitor receives your medical report and have drawn up a list of your financial losses, they will not be able to accurately say how much your claim is worth. However, when everything is in place, they will carry out a formal valuation of your claim, using the court guidelines and by making comparisons with similar claims made in the past and at that stage and will be able to give you a more accurate prediction.
If the other side have admitted responsibility for your claim, it is likely that they will want to assist your recovery by providing treatment and rehabilitation. Some larger insurers have arrangements with specialist rehabilitation companies to do this. Alternatively, quotes can be obtained for the treatment needed and the other side can be asked to pay for it.
Yes, unless you have wasted disbursements (eg. fees raised by medical experts for your failure to attend a pre arranged appointment).
Your solicitors will close their file and, if appropriate, make a claim on any insurance policy that has been put in place by us on your behalf to pay for any disbursements. Either way, your solicitors would not ask you to pay a penny.
www.claiming4accidents.co.uk is a specialist Accident Claims Management firm. Our job is to fully investigate claims and gather evidence before choosing the right work accident solicitor to deal with your claim. We ensure that your solicitor works on a no win no fee basis and you would never have to take out any loans or buy expensive insurance policies. Finally, we insist that you be allowed to keep 100% of your compensation. With these guarantees in place we are confident that, by using our services, your claim will be in safe hands.
www.claiming4accidents.co.uk and your appointed solicitor would deal with your claim sympathetically and diplomatically throughout as we know that you may be scared about brining a claim against your employers (especially if you still work for them). However, as employers all have insurance for claims such as yours (because they are legally obliged to do so), the vast majority of claims like yours are passed straight to the insurers and the personal involvement ends there.
On the very rare occasion that employers do react badly to a claim being made, your appointed solicitors will be able to calm things down or in the very worst cases only, refer you to specialist employment lawyers for assistance.