Where as a result of your accident you sustain injuries significant enough to prevent you from performing your ordinary day-to-day tasks, such as bathing, dressing and your weekly shopping, it may be possible to claim compensation from the person responsible for the accident for the assistance received.

Where the assistance is provided by a professional, e.g. a private nurse or a gardener, please ensure that you obtain receipts for the costs that you have incurred.

Where the assistance is provided by a family member, the court may still make an award on the basis of the time spent in providing the assistance by that family member. The court will usually allow the current nursing rate of £6.05 per hour, less a 25% reduction, i.e. £4.50 an hour due to the fact that a family member is voluntarily providing the assistance. The court may not consider it appropriate to make an award where the assistance provided is not “above and beyond” what could normally be expected of a spouse or parent to provide. If we anticipate that this may be the case in your circumstances we shall advise you as to whether a claim for care and assistance should still be pursued.

Once the details of the claim have been proved, the court will also have to be satisfied that the injuries were such that assistance was required and that the amount of assistance received was reasonable.  This is a medical issue and the medical expert will be asked to express his / her opinion on this.

A statement from the person providing the assistance may be required if the matter proceeds to a hearing.

As you are making a claim you have a duty to prove to the court that you sustained the losses claimed. The first step is to work out how much assistance is required.  It is NOT sufficient to merely state for example, that two hours of assistance were required per day.  To improve the prospects of the court accepting the amount of time spent, the court should be advised as to how that time has been spent.

The ‘Care Breakdown’ section of the questionnaire includes three tables that when completed will assist us to calculate the amount of care and assistance received and thereby, the value of that claim.

Example

Richard breaks his leg in an accident. The hospital fit a cast to Richard’s leg. Richard wears the cast for the first six weeks following the accident. During the first six weeks Richard requires assistance for 3 hours per day with bathing.

After the first six weeks, the hospital remove the cast, but Richard is required to wear a splint for a further four weeks. During the further four weeks, Richard only requires assistance for one hour per day with bathing.

Please note the example tables below which describes the above scenario.

Period 1

Period 2