Serious and Catastrophic Injury Claims
Last reviewed: June 2026 · EA Personal Injury Solicitors
Serious injury claims cover catastrophic injuries that have a life-changing or permanent impact — including brain and head injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, severe burns, and multiple trauma. These are high-value, complex claims that require specialist solicitors and multiple expert reports to fully assess your long-term needs and losses. No win, no fee is available for eligible cases.
TL;DR — Quick Summary
Key Points
- Serious injuries include brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, severe burns and major trauma.
- Compensation covers both general damages and all quantifiable future losses.
- Expert care, medical, employment and financial reports are typically required.
- Interim payments may be available to fund care and rehabilitation before settlement.
- High-value claims can run to millions of pounds in the most serious cases.
- No win, no fee is available for eligible serious injury claims.
What Are Serious or Catastrophic Injuries?
Serious or catastrophic injuries are those that cause life-changing, long-term, or permanent harm. Unlike less severe injuries that may fully recover, serious injuries affect a person's ability to work, maintain independence, and quality of life — often permanently.
Common types of serious injury claims we handle include:
Why Serious Injury Claims Are Different
Serious injury claims are significantly more complex than standard personal injury claims. They typically involve:
- Multiple specialist expert reports — neurologists, orthopaedic surgeons, care experts, occupational therapists, employment experts, accommodation experts, and independent financial advisers may all be required.
- Long-term prognosis evidence — understanding how your condition will develop over time is essential to calculating future losses accurately.
- Substantial special damages — future care costs, loss of earnings over a working lifetime, aids and equipment, home adaptations, and vehicle modifications can far exceed the general damages element.
- Rehabilitation — in appropriate cases, we can seek early admission of liability to enable rehabilitation funding before the claim is resolved.
It is important that your solicitors have the experience and resources to properly investigate and value serious injury claims. Undervalued settlements cannot generally be reopened.
Compensation for Serious Injuries
Serious injury compensation is divided into two categories:
- General damages: Compensation for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity — the physical and psychological impact of the injury itself. Assessed by reference to the Judicial College Guidelines.
- Special damages: All quantifiable financial losses — past and future. In serious injury cases, future losses (particularly care and lost earnings) often represent the largest element of the claim and may be structured as a lump sum or as periodical payments.
In the most severe cases — such as complete spinal cord injury with paralysis, or severe traumatic brain injury — total compensation can reach several million pounds.
Interim Payments
Where liability is admitted or a judgment is obtained on liability, we can apply to the court for interim payments — payments on account of the eventual award or settlement. Interim payments allow urgent care, rehabilitation, and other needs to be funded while the claim is still being investigated and valued. We will advise you on whether interim payments are appropriate in your case.
Rehabilitation
We follow the Rehabilitation Code and aim to secure early access to appropriate rehabilitation to maximise recovery. In appropriate cases, defendants' insurers will fund rehabilitation on a without-prejudice basis at an early stage, separate from and without prejudicing the quantum of the claim. Early rehabilitation can significantly improve long-term outcomes.
No Win, No Fee Serious Injury Claims
We handle serious and catastrophic injury claims under conditional fee agreements (no win, no fee) where the claim has reasonable prospects of success. If the claim succeeds, a success fee is payable from compensation. We will explain the funding position clearly before you decide to instruct us.