Compensation in Wales: Know Your Rights and Set Your Expectations

In Wales and the UK, compensation is an incredibly important tool of the legal system to not only enable victims of injustice to fund recovery programs and rehabilitation but to also help them find a sense of normality and support in a time when control over their life might be at a minimum. By UK law, which dictates much of Wales’ own legislation, there’s naturally a rigorous process behind how compensation is validated, calculated, claimed and used.

For claimants, a solicitor is the key to sourcing a valid claim and giving themselves a good chance of a reasonable outcome in court. However, claimants can be anyone, and the events that justify compensation are equally broad. Knowing your rights, setting your expectations and having a sense of how the process will play out can be a real benefit in a stressful time. 

What Constitutes A Claim?

Firstly, we have to state that we can’t list everything that justifies compensatory payments. Suffering an injury is very contextual, they can happen – quite literally – anywhere. However, some of the accidents that are most common feature specialist solicitors who handle them, include road traffic accidents, accidents in the workplace, public spaces incidents, medical negligence and work-related illness or conditions. If you’ve been injured in any scenario, and it specifically was not your own fault (or a lack of what’s considered reasonable diligence to avoid injury), within the past three years, a compensation claim can be made. It’s that breadth of claim that makes solicitors so helpful in shaping and focusing your claim.

How Much Compensation Can Someone Receive?

Compensation is calculated by the courts, using a multitude of measures. There is some guidance available but typically a more persistent or long-term injury – sometimes known as ‘life-changing’ – can result in higher settlements. Some mental conditions also require significant treatment and can impact areas of your life like ‘potential earnings’ due to their wide-ranging impacts.

The average claim can be somewhere between a few thousand and £10,000, but it ranges depending on who and how a person got hurt. For example, in 2021, the Ministry of Defence paid out £3.4 million for a parachuting accident. If your solicitor can make a serious case for something more substantial, like a loss of mobility or severe PTSD compensation claims due to a life-changing incident, the settlement will be calculated to fairly cover the cost of dealing with that extent of injury.

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How Long Will It Last?

From your initial call with your solicitor through to actually claiming anything, it’s hard to say. Solicitors act as proxies on your behalf and will shield you from the majority of proceedings, to minimise the effect on you. Once compensation is actually granted, typically things move much quicker. Not to mention, if you don’t win, you’re not left worrying about massive costs, as many injury solicitors operate on no win no fee terms, unlike other specialist solicitors. 

Many claimants expect payments to start within weeks of a successful claim, with the average payment times lasting between two weeks and two months. However, a complex or serious claim might end up lasting years if necessary, but a solicitor’s main priority is to minimise the length of proceedings as much as they can. 

In Wales and the UK, your protections by law in the event of injury due to someone else’s negligence are pretty iron-clad. This is good in one sense, but it also means the gears of law work methodically and slowly, with an orientation towards detail. That’s why professional injury claim solicitors improve the chances of winning so much more. 

At a time when you need to recover your health and vitality, it’s their speciality to bear the pressure, patience and knowledge of navigating your claim to a successful, and sufficient, amount that truly puts you on a road to recovery.