Accident compensation can often be for huge amounts of money. The cases that are reported in the national media will frequently give figures in the millions. This creates a rather misleading impression of accident compensation as the vast majority of payouts are for much small amounts, frequently not breaking £10,000. The reason that accident claims can be settled for such large amounts in the first place is because of the range of things that they cover.

At the lower end of the spectrum for compensation payouts you might have an accident that resulted from a small trip or slip in an area that was somebody’s responsibility to look after, such as a supermarket. The injuries received might not be incredibly damaging, but may necessitate a trip to hospital and a small amount of time off work. In situations like this the victim will be remunerated for the wages they lost whilst not working, as well as receiving compensation for the pain and suffering they had to endure.

As injuries become more serious, longer periods of time may be taken off work and the victim may have suffered more, so greater amounts of compensation are required to deal with this.

Further up the ladder, permanent injuries become a real issue. If an accident results in an injury that is going to affect you for the rest of your life then you could be looking at a number of things that will factor into your compensation. The most common is if the injury affects your ability to work. If you are unable to work as much as you could before the accident then your pay will suffer as a result, so compensation has to take this into account.

You may also require care for the rest of your life. This, understandably, is very expensive. Compensation will cover the costs of this care for your entire life, guaranteeing you access to the services you need.