Carer Accident Claims

What does a care worker do?

A care worker is someone who helps people who are physically and/or mentally impaired with their day to day living. A care worker may work in a care home or in people’s homes. Those working in people’s homes are often referred to as domiciliary carers.

Carers tasks typically consist of:

• Helping people to eat, drink, wash and dress.
• Helping people with social and physical activities.
• Organising and taking people to appointments.
• Helping to give people their daily medication and monitoring their health conditions through taking and recording their temperature, pulse, respiration and weight.

What injuries are care workers prone to?

A carers job involves a lot of physical activity, carers can suffer from injuries including:

• Repetitive strain injuries: Constantly having to the same tasks over and over may lead to repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome or bursitis.
• Manual handling injuries: Being a carer means that you are likely to be required to lift up and move the person you are helping. If you do not have the proper assistance equipment to hand this can lead to injuries such as strains and sprains to the hands, wrists and spine.
• Burns or scalding injuries: which can occur when making and preparing food or hot drinks.
• Physical assaults: It is sadly not uncommon for care workers to be physically assaulted by their patients.

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Who is responsible for my injuries?

Your employer is legally responsible for your health and safety in the workplace. This includes providing staff with the appropriate equipment and training to allow them to be able to do their job safely.

If your employee fails in their duty of care to protect your safety in the workplace, which leads to an injury, you may be entitled to make a claim against them.

Examples of how an employer may have been negligent include:

• Failing to provide training on how to safely lift and move patients.
• Failing to provide the necessary equipment to help carers move patients safely without injuring themselves or the patient.
• Failing to maintain and check equipment is in good working order.
• Failing to provide the correct PPE.
• Failing to have the right number of staff on duty to provide a safe working environment.
• Failing to carry out risk assessments.

How much compensation will I receive?

The amount of compensation you may receive is dependent on the individual circumstances of your case. Compensation is calculated based on general and special damages:

General damages: General damages are calculated based on your pain, suffering and loss of amenity.  Physical and psychological injuries are covered by general damages.

Special damages: This covers any current and future financial losses incurred as a result of the accident. Examples of special damages include:

• Loss of earnings through being unable to attend work, or work to the same capacity as you did pre-accident.
• Medical and rehabilitation treatment costs.
• Care costs.
• Home and vehicle adaptation costs.
• Mobility aids.

Is there a time limit for making a claim?

You have up to three years from the date of the accident to make a claim. It is however advisable to start the claims process as soon as possible whilst the details of the accident are still fresh to mind.

You have up to three years from the date of the accident to make a claim. It is however advisable to start the claims process as soon as possible whilst the details of the accident are still fresh to mind.

Could I lose my job for making a claim against my employer?

A lot of people are put off from making a claim against their employer out of the fear that they will lose their job. It is however illegal for your employer to dismiss you on the basis of you making a personal injury claim against them.

No matter what the size of the company, they are required, by law, to have employer’s liability insurance in place, to cover them for worker injuries. It is therefore important to know that your claim will be against your employer’s insurance company and not directly handled by your employer.

Read our ‘Can I lose my job after an accident at work claim?’ guide here.

How much will it cost to make a claim?

If you have had an accident that wasn’t your fault, you may be eligible to make a No Win, No Fee claim through us. This simply means that should we not win your case, you will not need to pay us a penny to cover your legal fees.

If you win your case your opponent will pay most of your legal costs.

Any legal costs not paid by your opponent will be deducted from the compensation that you receive. These costs include:

• The cost of your no win no fee insurance policy
• Some of your basic legal costs which can’t be recovered from your opponent
• A “success fee” which compensates us for the risk that if your claim was unsuccessful then we would not be paid at all.

Your solicitor will discuss this with you in advance, so you’ll know what to expect when your claim settles.

Call us on 0344 854 7000 or submit your details below and we’ll call you back to discuss your claim.

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