Calculating Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings Settlements

By Lewis Aaliyah. Last Updated 27th February 2023. Welcome to our guide on calculating a personal injury loss of earnings settlement. Many things can change suddenly after an accident caused by a breach of duty of care. As the shock of a physical injury subsides, and you begin to receive the treatment you need, other problems may start to emerge.

Personal injury loss of earnings claims guide

One of these repercussions from an accident could be a loss of earnings. The drop in income can create many unwanted issues. In this article, we look at what practical steps you can take to get this lost money back.

Get in touch with our team if you were injured because someone who had a duty of care towards you breached this duty, and you were injured as a result. You can get in touch with our team by:

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Alternatively, you can read on for more information on claiming loss of earnings.

Services And Information

Everything You Need To Know About Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings Claims
Loss Of Earnings Claim – General Damages And Special Damages
How You Calculate Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings Settlements
How To Use A Loss of Earnings Calculator
Personal Injury Claim Calculator
The Ogden Rate Calculated
Other Work-Related Financial Losses
What Proof Of Lost Income And Benefits Do I Need?
What Proof Of Income Can Zero Hours And Self Employed Workers Use?
Steps To Take Immediately After An Accident
Claim For Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings On A No Win No Fee Basis
Related Compensation Calculators

Everything You Need To Know About Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings Claims

In this guide, we will look at the process of claiming loss of earnings as part of a personal injury claim. We will start by looking at loss of earning calculators, what they are and how they can help. To claim loss of earnings after an injury caused by a breach in the duty of care you would need to make a successful personal injury claim or medical negligence claim.

Furthermore, we will look at the two different heads of claim and what you could receive as part of your compensation settlement. We will look at the distinction between general and special damages and how each of them is calculated. In addition to this, we will look at Ogden tables and how they can be used to calculate loss of earnings.

In addition to the loss of earnings, there are also other kinds of financial losses that you could incur as a result of not being able to work. We will cover what these are and how they could be included in a claim.

You may have suffered a loss of earnings after being injured in an accident but be on a zero-hours contract or self-employed. You may wonder how this could affect the loss of earnings compensation you could be owed; we will look at this in more detail later on in this guide.

Finally, we will look at the steps you should take after being injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence. We’ll also examine No Win No Fee agreements and the benefit that using one of these agreements can have.

If you have any further questions about making a loss of earnings claim, give our team a call for free legal advice. Otherwise, read on to find out more.

Loss Of Earnings Claim – General Damages And Special Damages

When personal injury compensation is awarded, it could be divided into two heads:

General damages: These are designed to compensate you for the physical or psychological impact of your accident. Additionally, you might be compensated for a loss of amenity, which is when your injuries have affected your enjoyment of life.
Special damages: Any type of financial harm or loss you have incurred as a result of your injuries is referred to as special damages. When you claim for a loss of earnings, it would fall under this head of compensation.

You’ll need evidence when proving a loss of earnings claim. Continue reading, and we’ll discuss examples of evidence you can gather. Alternatively, speak to an advisor at any time and they can provide you with free, no-obligation, legal advice.

How You Calculate Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings Settlements

Personal injury loss of earnings can be calculated based on net pay (take-home pay) as opposed to your gross or pre-tax wages. It is calculated pro-rata based on the amount of time taken off work.

Personal injury loss of earnings claims can also incorporate a loss of overtime. You must be able to demonstrate that overtime is a normal part of how you work. Also, you must be able to prove that overtime would have been on offer and available to you through the period you were off.

Commission is a part of many people’s income, and you may rely upon it. Obviously, if you were unable to work, you were unable to reach targets or achieve the desired threshold of income to qualify for commission. Once again, you must be able to demonstrate that this is a normal and anticipated part of your income and that the injuries have deprived you of your ability to access it.

Staff or work bonuses can also be claimed. This may require a confirmation from your employer that you were due to receive one. With evidence that you lost out on your bonus, the amount can be validated by your employer and incorporated in your request for damages by your lawyers.

If you would like more information on how much you could be entitled to in your personal injury claim, get in touch with our team today. One of our advisors could take the details of your case and offer you a no-obligation valuation of your claim.

How To Use A Loss of Earnings Calculator

If you have suffered a loss of earnings due to an accident caused by negligence, you could potentially use a loss of earnings calculator to calculate how much you could claim in compensation.

We give an example of how your compensation for loss of earnings could be calculated in the table featured below.

Month	Net Wages/Per pay slip	Net annual income based on average wage	Net daily wage based on 5-day week	Number of absent days	Net loss (of income)
April	£1,700	£20,600	£85.80	15 days	£1,287 (15 days absence at £85.80 per day)
May	£1,650
June	£1,800
Average monthly wage	£1,716

The calculator will prompt you with questions about any other forms of pay you would usually receive or were likely to receive. As discussed above, this can include bonuses, overtime or commission. The loss of earnings calculator will help you with a similar breakdown to help you reach as accurate an estimate as you can.

Remember you will need evidence of the lost earnings you are requesting to claim back. If possible, you should collect relevant emails, payslips and tax returns to present to your solicitor, or to present as part of your claim.

We give you more information about the other effects of your injury you could include as part of your claim below. You can use all this information to gain a more accurate estimate for compensation in an instant compensation calculator. Or you could speak to one of our advisers now for a full valuation and information on what else you could include as part of your claim.

Future Loss Of Earnings Calculator

As discussed, a loss of earnings calculator could estimate the compensation you are owed for your injury as well as any current loss of earnings. However, you might be eligible to claim for future loss of earnings; a calculator may not be the most helpful for this as they generally cannot take this type of loss into account.

So, how is compensation calculated for a future loss of earnings? A legal professional will work out how much income you could lose based on the time you will require off work.

However, if your injuries render you unable to work the same job at all anymore, this future loss of income is accounted for in your compensation payout, including lost pension contributions and missed bonuses.

Get in touch for free legal advice if you seek to claim a loss of earnings.

Personal Injury Claim Calculator

As we have previously stated, if you have suffered an injury at work, your injury could be compensated for with general damages.

When trying to find out how much you could be eligible for in general damages, you may be recommended a personal injury claim calculator. This could help give you a clearer idea of how much compensation you could be awarded, however it may not be able to take any special damages into account if you are eligible.

Alternatively, you could refer to the table we have created below. The figures listed in this table have been taken from the 16^th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a document that lists compensation brackets for various injuries and is used by many legal professionals to help them value and calculate personal injury claims.

However, you should only use this table as a guide. This is because compensation is awarded on a case-by-case basis, and the specific factors of your claim could impact how much you are awarded.

Type of injury	Severity	Notes	Amount
Brain and Head Injury	Very severe	A life-altering condition where the injured person may retain some ability to follow basic commands but will express little or no meaningful response to their environment. They will need constant care.	£282,010 to £403,990
Brain and Head Injury	Less severe	Good recovery with an ability to return to a normal social life and the workplace. However, they may still suffer with concentration and memory problems.	£15,320 to £43,060
Back Injury	Severe (i)	Damage to spinal cord and nerve roots that lead to severe consequences and disability.	£91,090 to £160,980
Neck Injury	Severe (i)	Injuries associated with paraplegia that is incomplete and results in little or no movement in the neck.	In the region of £148,330
Leg Injury	Amputations (iii)	One leg is amputated above the knee. Factors such as psychological problems and phantom pains will affect how much is awarded.	£104,830 to £137,470
Injuries Affecting Sight	Total loss of one eye	Awards within this bracket will depend on how severely the cosmetic effect and psychiatric consequences of this injury.	£54,830 to £65,710
Arm Injury	(b)	Serious fractures to one or both arms. which causes a disability that is either functional or coosmetic.	£39,170 to £59,860
Elbow Injury	(a)	An elbow injury that is severely disabling.	£39,170 to £54,830
Chest Injury	(c)	Damage to chest and lungs causing some ongoing disability.	£31,310 to £54,830
Knee Injury	Moderate (i)	Weakness, wasting and minor knee instability due to a torn cartilage or dislocation.	£14,840 to £26,190

Do not hesitate to contact our advisors today if you have any questions about starting a personal injury claim.

The Ogden Rate Calculated

The Ogden tables are produced by the Government Actuary’s Department. They’re used to help work out lump sum compensation awards in cases of personal injury and fatal accidents.

It includes a list of multipliers. These are then applied to the value that a future loss has in the present day.

There are a number of tables included. The first two of these tables cover life expectancy for men and women. These can be used to work out lifelong losses. Tables 3 to 14 cover loss of earnings up to a variety of different retirement ages, and tables 15 to 26 cover the loss of pension from a range of retirement ages. Table 27 can be used to discount for a time in the future, and table 28 can be used to work out a recurring loss over time.

When you’re using the table, you need to choose the table that relates to the circumstances. For instance, you will choose a table depending on your gender and the relevant period of loss or expense. You will then come to the appropriate multiplier, which you can apply to the present-day cost.

Other Work-Related Financial Losses

As well as a straightforward loss of earnings, there are some other work-related financial losses that you could experience as a result of being injured. For example:

Pension contributions. If you’re off work for a long enough time, then this impact on your earnings could have an effect on your pension contributions.
Sick days used. You may have taken some time off work to recover and used sick days to do so. If so, you could claim back these days as part of your compensation. You will be compensated a day’s salary for every sick day you have taken.
Perks & benefits not accrued. Some workplaces offer performance-related bonuses or may offer a monetary incentive for not taking any time off work. If you were unable to work towards this because you were injured, then you could claim this back.
Not being promoted. If you can demonstrate that you could have been promoted if you had not taken time off work, then this could be used to justify seeking a higher compensation award.

You may have experienced a work-related financial loss that we have not mentioned above. If so, don’t worry; just give our team a call today and provide us with the details of your claim. one of our advisors could help you value your claim.

What Proof Of Lost Income And Benefits Do I Need?

It’s important to retain paper evidence of anything that can substantiate your claim for special damages. This includes a loss of earnings. For example, you could provide payslips that show your earnings were reduced. You may also present doctors notes to show that you had to take time off work.

As well as loss of earnings, you can also claim other things as part of special damages. This can include things like care costs, the cost of home or vehicle adaptations and travel costs to and from medical appointments. You will need to provide evidence of these, too. This might include things like bills and receipts to show what you have paid.

Speak with our advisors now. See how legal help could benefit your personal injury loss of earnings claim.

What Proof Of Income Can Zero Hours And Self Employed Workers Use?

A zero-hours contract or ‘casual contract’ is a kind of employment contract where you’re not guaranteed a certain number of hours. In fact, the employer does not need to offer you hours at all.

Self-employment is where you work for yourself, and therefore it is up to you what hours you work from week to week. Furthermore, the nature of some kinds of self-employed job roles might mean that your working hours vary, making it difficult to ascertain what loss of earnings you have experienced.

If you’re on a zero-hour contract, then the courts will usually look at your payslip in the weeks leading up to your injury. This will show the loss of earnings you have experienced. However, you may be able to argue that these are not representative of the earnings that you would have made if you were working.

For instance, you may be a server in a restaurant. Imagine you are injured at the beginning of December. You could argue that your previous few weeks of earnings are not representative of what you would have earned in the busy Christmas period.

If you’re self-employed, you may want to collect evidence of any work that you weren’t able to undertake because of your injuries. You could also show invoices that illustrate the amount of money you usually earn.

Steps To Take Immediately After An Accident

Immediately after being injured in an accident, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention. This is because if you delay being treated for your injuries, this could lead to your condition getting worse. Furthermore, medical reports from seeking medical attention could be used to support your claim.

You should also collect evidence that the accident was caused by negligence. For example, you may find it useful to take photographs of the thing that caused the accident. You could also include a report if a record was made in an accident book. You could also collect the details of any witnesses who saw the accident take place. They may be able to provide statements down the line.

Anyone can start a claim for personal injury, and you can do so without legal representation. But we recommend working with a specialist personal injury solicitor. They have the expertise to understand any issues that might arise. Read on to find out how a No Win No Fee agreement could help you fund legal representation.

Claim For Personal Injury Loss Of Earnings On A No Win No Fee Basis

A No Win No Fee agreement is a contract between you and your solicitor that sets out what they need to do before receiving payment. Under this kind of agreement, you will not be asked to pay anything to your solicitor upfront or while the claim is ongoing.

There are also no fees due at all to your solicitor if the case fails. If your case is successful, you only pay a small percentage, a ‘success fee’, which is deducted from your settlement. Success fees are capped by law. This ensures that the bulk of your compensation always goes directly to you.

When you reach out to our advisors, they can quickly assess your claim’s eligibility. In addition to this, they connect you with a lawyer from our panel who has the expertise to help. You can: