After being forced to suffer an injury, you may feel quite stressed when considering how to proceed with making a compensation claim. It is completely normal to feel this way as the immense amount of laws and legal information can be quite overwhelming. Therefore, Beacon Law are here to provide our knowledge and helpful legal advice if you are wondering how, and if, you can claim back for loss of income due to injury.

What are the potential causes of injuries which result in loss of income?

Personal injury claims can arise from many causes. These may include road traffic accidents, accidents at work, accidents in public places, slip and trip accidents, accidents involving defective products and accidents whilst abroad. Furthermore, they may result from criminal assaults, accidents involving animal attacks, injuries caused as a result of medical negligence or illness or disease caused by unsuitable working conditions.  

If you have been involved in any of the above and have experienced loss of income as a result, it is important to propose a claim. As the injury was not your fault, you should not have to experience any financial loss, and if you have, you should receive the appropriate compensation.

General Damages

The term ‘general damages’ applies to the amount of money that you will receive based purely on your injury. This figure can take many factors into account, such as: the type of injury, the period of time taken to recover from your injury, the severity of the injury and the impact that the injury may have on your life. In order to make a claim for general damages, your injury must be backed up by medical evidence. This will support your claim and help to prove the allegations that you are proposing.

In order to advise you on the amount of general damages you may receive, we will require access to your medical evidence. This information will allow us to understand the full extent of your injuries so that we can provide an accurate valuation. Our valuations are useful tools as they provide our clients with clarification on how much compensation they are likely to receive. Furthermore, our goal is to achieve the maximum compensation for our clients, therefore the valuation allows us to have a figure in mind when negotiating with the defendant.

Loss of income due to injury: Special Damages

This type of damages relates to any further financial losses that you may have suffered due to the injury. Generally, these may include travel costs, parking costs at medical appointments, costs of any care received or treatment costs. However, the special damages that relate to loss of income are detailed below.

Loss of income due to injury: Loss of past earnings

If you have sustained an injury and have had to become absent from work as a result, you may be entitled to compensation for the income that you have lost. So that this figure can be calculated, the period that you have been absent for due to your injuries must be noted. Alongside this information, it is important that you provide previous payslips and tax returns etc. Through analysis of these documents, your lost past income can be calculated by multiplying the number of months absent by your monthly wage, for example.

Furthermore, if you had been working overtime prior to your period of absence, a claim for this lost income can be made. It is vital that you can prove the overtime that you have worked and highlight that, if you had been offered overtime in the past months, if you had not been unable to work, you would have agreed to it. By providing this information, the Court can be confident in the fact that you are entitled to lost overtime income.

Loss of income due to injury: Loss of future earnings

If you have sustained a serious injury and are unable to return to work soon, or at all, it is important to assess the amount of future earnings that you will lose. If the injury causes a permanent inability to work, the future loss of earnings could be calculated up to your age of retirement. Moreover, when considering the figure for lost future earnings many factors will be involved in the assessment. These may include possibility of promotion in the future and the timing of the injury, for example, did it occur before the establishment of a career? These factors would cause future earnings to vary; therefore, it is vital that they are assessed effectively.

Loss of self-employed earnings

It may be slightly more difficult to calculate a figure for loss of self-employed earnings; however, our expert team would be able to employ their skills to aid in the production of an accurate valuation.

With help from yourself or your accountant, we can assess your orders, invoices, accounts and tax returns alongside contracts that couldn’t be completed due to your injury. These documents will allow an assessment of your earnings and permit a precise valuation of your income loss.

How to make a claim for loss of income due to injury

Following your accident, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. Aid from legal experts will stand you in great stead for a successful case and allow you to gather the necessary information as early as possible. It is vital that you keep a note of important details of the claim, these may be the location, time, and date of the accident, the accident circumstances, the nature of the injuries sustained, details of any independent witnesses who may have witnessed your accident, details of the negligent party (the defendant) and details of your loss of income.

Subsequent to the initial discussion, a legal representative will discuss the appropriate funding methods for your claim. At Beacon Law, we operate on a “no win, no fee” basis.

Then, when the relevant information has been received, your case can be investigated, and a general damages and special damages valuation can be prepared. In order to prepare the general damages valuation, the Judicial College guidelines and your financial documents will be considered. The final sum may be given by the Court, but a valuation provides an accurate idea of the figure. If you disagree with the amount given by the Court, you may be able to appeal.

Once your claim has been proposed, the Defendant has up to 5 months to investigate the injury and your claim allegations. Whilst their investigation is ongoing, it is important that the Claimant’s representatives continue to seek supporting evidence, such as witness statements. Reliable evidence is imperative in injury claims and will increase the likelihood of compensation for your loss of income.

Following their investigations, the Defendant may propose an acceptable offer. However, in many cases, negotiations occur before an offer can be agreed. If the Defendant denies liability or refuses to make any reasonable offers, formal Court proceedings may be necessary. At Beacon Law, we assist during every step of the Court proceedings. This allows our clients to remain safe in the knowledge that their claim is being dealt with effectively.

Throughout the Court proceedings, we would continue to negotiate as the claim will only reach a final hearing if this is necessary. Ultimately, the end goal is to always achieve the maximum compensation for clients. In matters where a claim has been made for loss of income, we focus on returning our clients to the financial position that they were in prior to the injury.

How can Beacon Law assist? 

At Beacon Law, we have developed a team of experienced legal experts. Our founder set up the original firm in 2002 and prior to this she had handled a large amount of personal injury claims in other firms. Due to our extensive years in the industry, we have been able to develop great client relationships and extend our legal knowledge massively.

If you have been involved in an accident at work, we can help you to regain control of your life. We understand that personal injury incidents can be something that our clients do not want to dwell on. Therefore, we work efficiently in order to enable swift settlement.

Alongside accident at work claims, we regularly handle matters involving slips, trips and falls, road traffic accidents, medical negligence and animal attacks.

We can take care of your claim from the first step to successful settlement. When considering the appropriate amount of damages for settlement of your claim we will assess the magnitude of the loss that you have experienced, including loss of income. We understand that a loss of income can be catastrophic. So, we endeavour to provide our expert skills when claiming loss of earnings back. Whether these are past or future earnings, we can employ our skills to achieve the maximum compensation for our clients.

Please contact us on 0330 1332 857 if you have any questions or would like to proceed with a loss of income due to injury claim.