Hello, can anyone whom has knowledge of compensation claim injuries please advise me if I can just claim compensation for my personal injuries but not for loss of income.

The reason being is that I worked part time but ended up receiving more in benefits than I would if I had not had an accident.

I am now just returning to work after three years and will again be earning less than the benefits that I received. I do have a good solicitor, but don't want to be ringing him all the time to ask every little question that relates to my case, so I thought that someone whom has real knowledge of situations like mine would likely be found here.

Many thanks in advance to all.

redrum3wins welcome to The Consumer Action Group community.

You haven't received any replies to your problem yet so you might be better off posting your story again directly in the sub-forum which deals with your kind of situation. You will get lots of support there.

Also, spend some time looking round the forum. Once you understand the layout, you will be able to get best use from this Consumer Community. It is a big forumm and may take some time. But it will be worth doing.

Good luck.

Thread moved to appropriate Forum.

redrum3wins welcome to The Consumer Action Group community.

 

You haven't received any replies to your problem yet so you might be better off posting your story again directly in the sub-forum which deals with your kind of situation. You will get lots of support there.

 

Also, spend some time looking round the forum. Once you understand the layout, you will be able to get best use from this Consumer Community. It is a big forumm and may take some time. But it will be worth doing.

Good luck.

Thanks for your kind pointers, ever since joining the site, I have found it difficult to find where I should post questions etc. I will take onboard your advice and hope the best. Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

Best Regards

Yes, I would think so. My sister and kids were given compensatory amounts for PI following an RTA. The injuries were mainly whiplash, slight injury to a knee and other knocks. The kids were also subject to trauma. I believe the PI claim payment for them was something in the order of £12k plus other costs including physio, any ongoing treatment costs.

It did however, have to go to court, to obtain the settlement and it took ages, I think about 18 months.

Long time since I had one of these but I think that the Secretary of State has first call on damages you get to cover the benefits received (was known as the Compensation Recovery Unit if I remember correctly) so you will need to claim for everything if it hasn't all changed.

Thank you for all of your informed replies. Things are more clearer for me now, thanks to your knowledge.

Damages in a personal injury claim are split into two categories - general damages and special damages.

If you have received any benefits from the state that is a direct result of the injury then they are recoverable against any special damages that are relevant.

In this case, the benefits you received would be recoverable against any claim made for a loss of earnings, so in effect if what you are saying is correct then there is little point in you making a claim for a loss of earnings as the benefits will be recovered by the state from the compensators rather than you.

However, you need to be careful as you can claim something called a Smith & Manchester claim which is an award for a disadvantage on the open job market as a result of your injuries. See what your solicitor says about the severity of the injuries and whether your medical expert has suggested that you have such a claim. This would not be reoverable by the Compensation Recovery Unit.

Endymion, thanks for that useful piece of information. I was totally unaware of this 'Smith and Manchester' claim. I will check this out with my solicitor shortly. I am going for my first of two medicals arranged by the other party insurance company soon.

Best Regards