What personal injury compensation covers

One of the first questions people ask after an accident is a very practical one: "What exactly can I actually claim for?" It's a fair question, because the answer is broader than most people expect. Compensation is not just a payment for being hurt — it is meant to cover the real, knock-on effects of an injury on your health, your wallet and your way of life. This guide breaks down every main "head of loss" in plain English so you know what belongs in a claim and why keeping good records matters so much.

A quick word on scope: we are an independent information service, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice about your own claim. Only an SRA-regulated solicitor, working from your medical evidence, can put a value on what you are owed. If you haven't started yet, our how-to-claim guide walks through the steps.

The two parts: general and special damages

Almost every personal injury award splits into general damages and special damages. The distinction matters because the two are worked out in completely different ways. General damages are assessed — a solicitor or judge places a value on something that has no price tag, like the pain of a broken leg. Special damages are calculated — they are added up from receipts, payslips and expert evidence, pound by pound. Understanding the split is the single best way to see why two people with the same diagnosis can receive very different sums: their financial losses, not their injuries, are usually what differ most.

General damages — pain, suffering and loss of amenity

General damages compensate you for the injury itself and its impact on your life. Lawyers refer to this as PSLA: pain, suffering and loss of amenity. "Pain and suffering" covers the physical and psychological hurt of the injury and its treatment. "Loss of amenity" covers the things you can no longer do or enjoy — playing sport, gardening, lifting your children, sleeping properly, or simply going about your day without discomfort.

Because you cannot put a receipt to pain, general damages are valued by comparison. Your solicitor uses the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) — the standard reference, regularly updated, that sets out bracket ranges for almost every type of injury — alongside comparable case law where courts have previously valued similar injuries. Your independent medical report is central: it describes the injury, the treatment, the recovery and any lasting effects, which is what the bracket is matched against. Where a court awards general damages, a 10% uplift established by the Court of Appeal in Simmons v Castle is added to the PSLA figure.

General damages answer a question no spreadsheet can: what is fair compensation for the pain, the worry and the parts of life an injury takes away? That is why the medical report — not the receipts — drives this part of the claim.

Special damages — your financial losses

Special damages reimburse the quantifiable financial impact of the injury. This is often the larger part of a claim, particularly where someone has been unable to work or has needed ongoing care. Crucially, these losses are proved, not estimated — which is why every payslip, receipt and mileage record counts. The main heads of loss include:

• Loss of earnings (past and future). Net income lost while you couldn't work — including overtime, bonuses and commission you would normally have earned — and, where the injury has lasting effects, your reduced earning capacity going forward.
• Loss of pension. Employer and personal pension contributions you missed, and any long-term reduction to your pension where a serious injury cuts your working life short.
• Medical, rehabilitation and physiotherapy costs. Treatment not provided free on the NHS — physiotherapy, counselling, surgery, scans and ongoing rehabilitation.
• Care and assistance. Paid carers, and crucially gratuitous care provided unpaid by family or friends, valued by the hours spent helping with washing, dressing, cooking and mobility.
• Travel costs. Mileage, parking and fares for medical appointments and treatment, and extra transport needed because of the injury.
• Aids, equipment and adaptations. Wheelchairs, crutches and specialist equipment, plus home or vehicle adaptations such as ramps, stairlifts or modified controls for serious injuries.
• Prescriptions and incidentals. Prescription charges, dressings, and other out-of-pocket costs that flow directly from the injury.

Future losses, multipliers and the Ogden Tables

For injuries with lasting effects, a claim looks forward as well as back. Future losses — ongoing lost earnings, future care, repeat treatment or equipment that needs replacing — are estimated and paid as part of the settlement. The challenge is turning a loss spread over many years into a single fair lump sum paid today.

The courts do this with a multiplier and multiplicand. The multiplicand is the annual loss (for example, yearly lost earnings or care costs). The multiplier is a figure reflecting how many years the loss will continue. For serious, long-term cases the multiplier is taken from the Ogden Tables — official actuarial tables — and adjusted by the discount rate set by the Lord Chancellor, which accounts for the fact that a lump sum can be invested. In plain terms: a £10,000-a-year future loss is not simply multiplied by the number of years; it is adjusted so that the lump sum, sensibly managed, fairly represents that loss over time. This is expert territory, and serious claims usually involve medical, employment and accountancy evidence to get it right. Our claim process guide explains where this fits in.

Interest, deductions and interim payments

Two things can change the final figure that reaches your bank account.

Interest. Because claims take time, interest can be added to general damages and to past financial losses to reflect the wait. It is calculated at rates the courts apply over set periods; future losses do not usually carry interest because they have not yet been incurred.

Deductions and benefit recovery. If you received certain state benefits because of your accident, the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), can recoup them. The paying insurer repays those benefits to the CRU, and some are offset against the relevant part of your compensation — but your pain-and-suffering (general) damages are protected from this. A lump sum can also affect means-tested benefits, which is one reason some claimants set up a personal injury trust. Where liability is admitted and you face hardship, your solicitor may also secure interim payments — early instalments of your compensation before the claim fully settles, useful for funding treatment or replacing lost income.

The whiplash tariff for minor road-traffic injuries

One important exception to the "value by Judicial College Guidelines" approach applies to minor soft-tissue road-traffic injuries — typically whiplash. Under the Civil Liability Act 2018 and the linked Ministry of Justice (MOJ) whiplash reforms, general damages for these injuries are set by a fixed tariff based on how long symptoms last, rather than valued case-by-case. These tariff amounts are deliberately fixed and lower than awards used to be, and most low-value RTA whiplash claims now run through the government's Official Injury Claim portal. Special damages — your actual financial losses — are still recoverable on top.

Why only a solicitor can value your claim

Every claim is individual. The same diagnosis can be worth very different amounts depending on your recovery, your job, your responsibilities at home and the losses you can prove. There is no reliable "compensation calculator", and any figure quoted before a doctor has examined you is guesswork. The realistic value of a claim emerges only once your medical evidence is in and an SRA-regulated solicitor has matched it to the Judicial College Guidelines, comparable cases and your documented financial losses. Treat headline figures online as illustration, not promise.

Frequently asked questions