Unfortunately, personal injuries may abruptly impact your health, well-being and everyday life. As a result, this may significantly disrupt your financial stability, requiring you to make payments you wouldn’t otherwise have had to make.
When pursuing a compensation claim, many claimants assume they are only awarded general damages for the harm they suffered. However, special damages may also be awarded, reimbursing claimants for any momentary losses they incurred as a result of their injuries.
Our panel of solicitors at Compensation Calculator UK have the necessary legal skills and experience to help you claim special damages as part of your compensation.
Key Takeaways
- Special damages is a legal term which refers to the head of claim awarded for financial losses suffered due to your injuries.
- Some examples of special damages you may be compensated for include lost wages, medical expenses, travel costs and special equipment costs.
- You must have evidence of your financial losses to support your claim, such as bank statements, invoices, receipts, and payslips.
- You must have also suffered a physical or psychological injury or illness to be able to receive special damages.
- Our specialist panel of personal injury solicitors may help you pursue a claim for special damages on a No Win No Fee basis.
Get in touch with our advisors today for a free consultation to determine your eligibility to pursue a compensation claim and learn more about how we could help you.
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Here at CompensationCalculatorUK.co.uk our expert advisors are on hand 24 hours a day 7 days a week to assess your compensation claim. Should you require free legal advice we can connect you to a specialist solicitor.
Examples Of Special Damages
- Loss Of Earnings
- Future Lost Income
- Cost Of Care
- Medical Expenses
- Rehabilitation Or Therapies
- Adaptations To Home Or Car
- Travel Expenses
- Damage To Belongings
- Can Compensation Calculator Help Me To Claim Special Damages?
- More Information
Loss Of Earnings
A loss of earnings is a typical consequence of suffering from a an injury. However, you may claim special damages for such losses.
Injuries may cause physical pain and mental suffering, debilitating your ability to work. As a result, you may be required to take time off while recovering or undergoing treatment.
Depending on your employment contract, your employer may not have paid you in full for your time off. Alternatively, you may have been given Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which did not amount to your full wage.
Under such circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation for the wages you lost. This may also take into account:
- Lost bonuses
- Lost overtime
- Lost holiday entitlement
- Lost pension contributions
- Any other lost work benefits
To prove your lost earnings, it is important to obtain copies of your payslips. Specifically, the ones that state your typical wage and the ones that demonstrate your losses.
If you have any questions about claiming for a loss of earnings, please contact our advisors.
Future Lost Income
Special damages also take into account a claimant’s future loss of income. As with lost wages, this also takes into account any lost work benefits.
Unfortunately, the most serious personal injuries may cause long-term damage, indefinitely ending a person’s ability to work or continue in the same career, or leaving them out of work for a long period of time.
Therefore, they may claim compensation for their future loss of earnings. Solicitors value this by calculating the total loss of earnings up until the claimant’s predicted return to work date, based on medical advice regarding their recovery or up until their age of retirement.
For help calculating your future lost income, please contact our advisors.
Cost Of Care
If you suffered severe, life-altering injuries, you may be required to pay care and assistance costs. This is because some injuries may diminish your ability to perform tasks you once did independently.
Depending on the extent of your injuries, you may require such support for a short period of time, or this may be a lifelong necessity. However, special damages take both into account. So, you may be reimbursed for costs you have already made for such support and the future cost of it may also be calculated and added to your compensation.
Some examples of the type of support costs special damages cover in personal injury claims include:
- Nursing carers to provide medication and treatment
- Personal carers to maintain personal hygiene
- Domiciliary carers to help with domestic duties
- Child support services to support your children
This also covers professional care costs as well as gratuitous care provided to you from friends and family, and could reimburse them for any lost earnings they expereinced when caring for you. However, you must provide evidence of this, such as care agreements, contracts and invoices.
Contact our advisors today for help calculating your financial losses due to care and assistance costs.
Medical Expenses
Compensation for medical expenses is commonly awarded in claims. This is because claimants are typically required to make out-of-pocket expenses for medical services or treatment.
Some examples of medical expenses that special damages could compensate you for include:
- Surgical costs
- Prescription costs
- Dental treatment costs
- Cosmetic surgery costs
Depending on the extent of your injuries, any future medical expenses may also be taken into account when your compensation is being calculated.
You must have evidence of your medical expenses to be compensated for such losses. So, it is useful to keep a record of any medical invoices and prescription receipts to support your claim.
For help getting evidence of your medical costs, reach out to our helpful advisors.
Rehabilitation Or Therapies
Understandably, accidents resulting in personal injuries may impact your physical and mental health. As a result, you may incur rehabilitation or therapy costs when utilising such services for your recovery.
For example, if you suffered physical injuries, this may impair your everyday functioning, reducing your independence and freedom. Therefore, you may incur rehabilitation costs for services such as:
- Physiotherapy to improve motor skills
- Speech therapy to improve communication skills
- Occupational therapy to regain independence
Additionally, if you suffered psychological harm such as stress, anxiety, depression or PTSD, you may be referred to mental health specialists for support. However, you may incur costs for such services.
If you incur out-of-pocket expenses for rehabilitation or therapy support, you may claim compensation for those losses. However, you must provide evidence of this. So, it is useful to keep a record of any invoices that state the cost of each session.
Contact our advisors for advice on how our panel of solicitors could help you with accessing any rehabilitation you may need.
Adaptations To Home Or Car
Severe personal injuries can be life-altering, affecting a person’s mobility and independence. Therefore, they may be required to make and pay for supportive adaptations to their home or cars. However, special damages may be awarded for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred for this.
Some examples of supportive home adaptations include:
- Walk-in showers
- Wider doorframes
- Adjustable beds
- Stair lift installations
- Ramps and handrails
- Smart home technology
Further, examples of supportive vehicle adaptations include:
- Wheelchair ramps
- Extended pedals
- Hand controls and levers
- Roof storage
- Vehicle hoist
You must provide evidence of your home or vehicle adaptations to claim special damages, such as device receipts or vehicle garage and home adaptation bills.
If you have any questions about compensation for car or home adaptations resulting from your personal injury, contact our advisors.
Travel Expenses
Having sustained a personal injury, you may be required to make out-of-pocket travel expenses to go to and from places you would not have travelled to if you did not sustain a personal injury.
For example, you may have hospital appointments, rehabilitation or therapy sessions. However, as part of your special damages, you may be reimbursed for any travel costs you incur, such as:
- Taxi fares
- Public transport tickets
- Vehicle fuel costs
To prove you incurred travel expenses, it is important to keep hold of any public transport tickets or receipts. These should provide details of the cost, the travel destination and time, and support your claim.
If you are unable to travel independently due to your injuries, some medical services are available to support you in getting to and from hospital appointments safely.
Contact our advisors today for help calculating your travel expenses.
Damage To Belongings
Your personal belongings may become damaged in accidents that result in personal injuries. However, if you purchased such items and the accident was not your fault, you may be compensated for this.
Damaged personal belongings are considered special damages, allowing you to replace them or have them repaired. Some examples of belongings you may be compensated for include your:
- Clothing or accessories
- Digital devices such as a mobile phone
- Glasses, hearing aids and walking sticks
- Bicycles, motorcycles and cars
- Protective clothing, such as helmets
To claim compensation for damaged belongings, you must provide copies of receipts from the items you purchased, photographs of the damage and estimated repair costs, all to support your claim.
Our solicitors may calculate financial losses for damaged personal belongings and help you collect evidence to support your claim, so reach out to our advisors regarding this today.
Can Compensation Calculator UK Help Me To Claim Special Damages?
Yes, our panel of solicitors here at Compensation Calculator UK could help you to claim special damages as part of your compensation claim. You can first contact our advisors to discuss your case and see whether you may have an eligible claim. If so, they could connect you with a specialised solicitor from our panel.
Understanding the financial losses your injuries may have caused, our panel of solicitors offer their services and legal representation on a No Win No Fee basis. So, if you sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), you will not need to pay for their services:
- Prior to your claim starting
- As the claim is underway
- Should the claim be unsuccessful
Your solicitor will take a small success fee if your claim is successful. They will take this from your compensation as a legally limited percentage, meaning the majority of the compensation will stay with you.
Our panel of solicitors has undergone extensive legal training and has decades of combined experience in various types of compensation claims, such as accident-at-work claims, public place accident claims, road traffic accident claims, and medical negligence claims, to name a few.
Some of the expert services they can provide you include:
- Explaining what special damages are
- Helping you gather evidence of your losses
- Utilising their skills to get you the maximum payout you deserve
- Setting you up with mental health services
- Organising any rehabilitation you may need
- Helping you apply for interim payments
Get In Touch With Our Team
Contact our advisors at Compensation Calculator UK for a free consultation to see whether you may be eligible for compensation and how a solicitor from our panel could help you:
- Call on 0800 408 7826 to discuss your eligibility to claim compensation
- Messaging them on a private live chat to have your questions answered by our human advisors
- Contact us online
More Information
For more information about personal injury claims, please read our guides linked below:
- Learn how much your claim is worth
- Answers to our frequently asked questions regarding personal injury claims
- Access our personal injury compensation calculator
References:
- Visit an urgent care centre, NHS.UK
- Access mental health services, NHS.UK
- Learn how to claim on behalf of a loved one as a litigation friend, GOV.UK
Thank you for reading this guide, which explains what special damages are.