Four in ten people who have suffered a non-fault personal injury have not claimed compensation

Over four in ten people who have suffered a specific type of non-fault personal injury have not made a claim for compensation, according to research from National Accident Helpline.

The claims management company has also found that those personal injury victims who do make a claim do so in order to right financial and emotional wrongs, rather than to take advantage of the UK’s supposed compensation culture.

A survey carried out by Populus for National Accident Helpline found that 81% of injury sufferers have used compensation to offset their own lost earnings or costs, with 57% saying that they have had to make significant changes to their lifestyles.

In addition, over a third (37%) of the British adults surveyed would be worried about how much a claim might cost in terms of legal fees.

National Accident Helpline has said that accident victims who have not claimed are “silent sufferers” who are not getting the support required to meet their monetary concerns or help with adjustments to their lifestyle.

Respondents to the survey also said that in the event of a personal injury they would be most concerned about the impact of their personal injury on their close family, with partners (67%) and children (53%) most likely to be affected.

Russell Atkinson, Managing Director of National Accident Helpline, said the the research outlined the bleak choices faced by personal injury victims across the UK.

“The level of financial loss and the associated emotional impacts are substantial, and hard-working people are being forced to make impossible decisions,” he said.

“In many cases personal injury can have life-altering consequences and it is essential that the very real disruption caused by injury is better understood. The need to use compensation for the essentials shows that claiming is not seen as a bonus. Instead it is seen as a necessity in the vast majority of cases, a finding that is further evidenced by the fact that so many incur additional costs as a result of their situation or circumstances.

“Far from experiencing a national compensation culture, we are at very real risk of developing into a nation of silent sufferers, whereby people with a legitimate injury are too afraid to come forward and claim the compensation they are entitled to.”

Further details from the survey can downloaded here.

Mark Dugdale