You expect a school to look out for your child’s safety or for your own safety if you work within a school. If your child has experienced an injury while at school or if you have been injured yourself while working at a school due to the school’s negligent actions, you may be eligible to make an accident at school claim.
In this guide, we explore the different forms of compensation that could be awarded for a successful school accident claim, as well as the eligibility requirements that need to be met in order to have a valid personal injury claim.
Additionally, we explore the various types of accidents that could be suffered on school premises and share examples of how these may be suffered.
Finally, we explain how a solicitor from our panel could help you to proceed. If eligible, they may offer you a No Win No Fee service. Many worry about expensive legal costs, so this is an excellent way to proceed, as there are typically no upfront charges.
You can enquire with an advisor today for straightforward answers and advice given free of charge. They can assess your personal injury claim and potentially connect with No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor:
- Call us on 0800 408 7826
- Enquire online
- Use our live chat feature on this page
Jump To A Section
- Accident At School Claim Compensation Calculator
- Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation For An Accident At School?
- Common Causes Of School Accidents That Lead To Claims
- Types Of Injuries You Can Claim For
- How To Start An Accident At School Claim
- How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Support Your Claim
- More Information
Accident At School Claim Compensation Calculator
If you are making an accident at school claim, you can use our compensation calculator to give you a clearer idea of the potential compensation you could receive. It works by asking you a variety of questions, such as what type of injury you suffered and how severe was it.
Alternatively, you can take a look at the table below. We created this table using some figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which is a document that pairs guideline compensation brackets with varied severities and types of injury. Legal professionals may refer to this document when assessing general damages for personal injury claims. General damages compensate you for the pain and suffering you have experienced due to your injury and are awarded in all successful claims.
Please bear in mind that the totals included do not guarantee your compensation award. They should be taken as guideline figures.
The JCG did not provide the figure from the first row of the table below.
| Type of Injury | Severity | Compensation Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple severe injuries with financial impact | Severe | Up to £1,000,000+ | Multiple injuries with the associated financial losses, such as the cost of medical treatment |
| Brain | Moderately severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | Injury results in serious disability where the person must rely on the care of others |
| Back | Severe (i) | £111,150 to £196,450 | Involving severe damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots |
| Neck | Severe (iii) | £55,5000 to £68,330 | Includes serious damage to soft tissue, fractures or dislocations giving rise to some level of disability |
| Facial scarring | Less severe scarring | £21,920 to £59,090 | Substantial disfigurement with psychological impact |
| Leg | Severe (iv) moderate | £33,880 to £47,840 | Serious crush injuries or multiple/complicated fractures, typically impacting one limb |
| Arm | Less severe injury | £23,430 to £47,810 | Substantial recovery from an injury with some disability |
| Shoulder | Serious | £15,580 to £23,430 | Damage to lower part of brachial plexus with dislocated shoulder. Symptoms include weakened grip and elbow ache |
| Chest | Simple injury | £15,370 to £21,920 | Could be a single penetrating wound resulting in damage but no long-term serious impact and lung remains fully functional |
Special Damages In Your Claim
You could also be eligible to claim special damages. These compensate you for the costs you may have incurred due to your injury. Examples include costs paid for:
- Medical treatment
- Travel to/from medical appointments
- Professional care
- Adjustments made to your home
- Loss of earnings
- Childcare
Continue reading our guide to see whether you may have an eligible claim. You can also contact our advisors with any questions you may have and to discuss your case.
Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation For An Accident At School?
You must meet certain eligibility criteria in order to start an accident at school claim. Therefore, you need to prove that:
- The school owed a duty of care to you
- They failed to enact their duty
- As a result, you suffered an injury
Below, we look at the responsibilities of schools to their pupils and staff. Keep reading to learn more about when you can start a school accident compensation claim.
Can I Claim On Behalf Of Behalf Of My Child For An Accident In A School?
Your child’s school has a duty of care to take reasonable steps to help ensure the health and safety of their pupils. This is set out under Section 4 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA), as this applies to all persons on the premises that are not employees, such as pupils. Some steps a school could take to comply with their duty of care would be performing regular risk assessments and making sure all equipment, such as playground equipment, is regularly maintained,
If a school fails to comply with their duty of care and this results in your child being injured, you could make a claim on their behalf through the school’s public liability insurance.
If your child was under the age of eighteen at the time of the accident, to be able to make a claim on their behalf, you would need to apply to act as their litigation friend. This would allow you to make decisions for the claim on behalf of your child. If a claim has not been made on their behalf by their 18th birthday, they would then have three years from this date to make their own claim.
Can I Claim If I Had An Accident While Working In A School?
When you are at work, such as a staff member at a school, your employer owes you a duty of care under HASAWA to take reasonable steps to ensure your safety.
If they fail to adhere to this, and this causes you to suffer an injury while working in a school, you could be eligible to make an accident at work claim.
You can contact our advisors with any questions you may have about the eligibility of your accident at school claim. Whether you are looking to claim as an employee of a school or your child experienced an accident at school, they can advise you on the next steps.
Common Causes Of School Accidents That Lead To Claims
There are many scenarios for which you could lead to a claim for school injury compensation. For example:
- While working as a teacher in a school, you sit in a faulty chair. The school were aware of this faulty chair and failed to repair or replace it. The chair collapses beneath your weight, causing you to fall to the floor and break a bone in your arm.
- Your child is playing on the playground, and they use faulty playground equipment due to the school not performing regular maintenance checks, causing them to fall off a slide and hit their head. They suffer a concussion and a brain injury.
- Your child does an experiment in a science lesson. However, they are not provided with safety goggles and get chemicals in their eyes, causing pain and temporary blindness.
- You work as a school receptionist. While walking across the office, you trip over some loose cables that had not been tidied away or signposted and fall to the ground. As a result, you sprain your wrist.
If your incident was not listed above, this does not mean you cannot claim. These are just a few examples, so you can contact our advisors to discuss your incident and find out if you could proceed with an accident at school claim with a personal injury solicitor from our panel.
Types Of Injuries You Can Claim For
There are a variety of injuries that could give rise to an accident at school claim. These include:
- Head injuries
- Broken bones, such as a broken leg
- Scarring of the face or body
- Orthopaedic injuries, such as those suffered to the neck and shoulders
- Sprains and strains, such as to the wrist
- Soft tissue injuries
Get in touch with our team of advisors for further information on the types of injury you can claim compensation for. They can let you know if your claim is eligible and answer any questions you have about starting a claim.
How To Start An Accident At School Claim
Now that you know more about the types of accidents and injuries you can start a school accident claim for, you may be seeking a better understanding of how a compensation claim works. Keep reading for further details.
Gather Evidence To Support Your Claim
You will need to submit evidence to strengthen your accident at school claim. This could include:
- Bank statements and payslips to prove the financial losses suffered
- Accident reports (the school has to keep a record when certain incidents occur)
- Photos of the injury or videos of the accident scene (including CCTV footage)
- Contact details for those who witnessed the incident and could be called upon to give a statement
- A copy of you or your child’s medical reports
How Long You Have To Start A Claim
There is a legal time limit for submitting a personal injury claim. This is typically within three years after the date of injury, as per the Limitation Act 1980. Exceptions may apply if the injured person is:
- Under the age of eighteen
- Lacking the mental capacity to make decisions for their claims
As discussed previously, you may be able to act as a litigation friend for your child’s case. This also applies to those without mental capacity.
Considering A No Win No Fee Solicitor For Your Accident At School Claim
If eligible, you may be able to start a school injury claim with a personal injury solicitor from our panel. They provide their services on the basis of No Win No Fee through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This offers the benefit of not having to pay for your solicitor’s work:
- Upfront
- Throughout the duration of the claim
- If you do not receive compensation
However, if you receive a compensation award, you will need to pay a success fee. This is taken as a percentage of your compensation by your solicitor. There is a legally enforced cap in place which ensures that you keep most of the compensation gained from your successful claim
How Long It Can Take To Get Accident At School Compensation
Unfortunately, we cannot state how long your school injury compensation claim will go on for. This is because the time taken will depend upon multiple factors, such as:
- The severity and type of injury suffered and whether a full recovery has been made
- How much evidence you must gather
- Whether the defendant accepts liability for your injury
- Whether your claim must go to court
You can reach out to an advisor if you have any queries about this process. If you move forward with a personal injury solicitor from our panel, they can support you throughout your school accident claim and explain anything that you are unsure of.
How Our Panel Of Solicitors Can Support Your Claim
In addition to the financially accessible No Win No Fee agreement offered by our panel of solicitors, they could help your accident at school claim by:
- Negotiating the level of compensation to cover relevant general and special damages
- Handling correspondence with the defendant on your behalf
- Outlining legal definitions and processes in simple terms
- Assisting you with the collection of evidence
- Checking that your claim is started within time limit
If you would like to find out more about these legal services, you can contact an advisor at any time to enquire. They can check whether you meet the claim criteria and potentially connect you to a solicitor from our panel. There is no obligation to use their services after enquiring, so why not contact them to find out if you could start a compensation claim?:
- Call us on 0800 408 7826
- Enquire online
- Use our live chat feature on this page
More Information
Visit other personal injury guides:
- Find out how to sue the council
- Learn about pedestrian accident claims
- Read our guide on claiming after slipping on a wet floor
Further resources:
- Follow government advice for claiming Statutory Sick Pack (SSP)
- Learn more about responsibilities and duties for schools in relation to health and safety from Gov.UK.
- Read the NHS advice for administering first aid
Thank you for reading our guide on how to start an accident at school claim.