If you’ve suffered an injury at work as a care worker, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
As a carer, you’re used to taking care of others and making sure they’re looked after. At work, your employer should take on this responsibility for you and your colleagues, making sure you’re safe.
But this isn’t always the case, with accidents and injuries in the care sector happening more often than they should.
If you’ve sustained an injury in an accident at work that was caused by someone’s negligence, you could be able to make a compensation claim. And First4Lawyers can help you do it.
A lot of work you carry out as a carer is physical and repetitive. This can lead to injuries if not done with the proper training and equipment.
You might be expected to lift and carry people, as well as heavy loads. You might have to help service users with their hygiene needs. You might also have to help when something goes wrong, such as an altercation between service users or someone falling over.
But these types of tasks can present risks to your own health.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reported that the two most common non-fatal injuries to workers are falls on the same level and manual handling, lifting or carrying. As a carer, you’re particularly vulnerable to both of these accident types.
According to the HSE, 30% of injuries to workers in the human health and social work sector – which includes carers – were musculoskeletal disorders. 82,000 injuries to these workers are reported every year.
Carers are also more likely than others to suffer from contact dermatitis, the HSE has reported.
If you’ve suffered from an accident while working as a carer that was the fault of someone else’s negligence, you could be able to make a compensation claim.
Your employer can be help liable for a lot of accidents you might suffer. This is because it’s their duty to ensure your health and safety at work. That means if they have neglected your safety in a way that caused you to suffer an accident, you could make a claim for compensation.
It’s up to your employer to make sure you know the correct way of carrying out all tasks necessary to your role. They should have ensured you were trained in the safest ways of doing physical or repetitive work, such as manual lifting.
Your employer has a duty of care to ensure that:
If your accident happened because your employer did not ensure your safety, you could be entitled to make a compensation claim.
We understand that you might feel anxious about claiming against your employer. But it may reassure you to know that you won’t claim directly against them. Their insurer will be the organisation that pays your compensation – so it won’t come straight from your employer.
What you receive for a successful claim will depend on your specific circumstances. This makes it difficult to say exactly what you might be entitled to in compensation without speaking to you directly.
Your final compensation amount will take into account a number of factors, including:
For a rough idea of what you might be entitled to, try our compensation calculator. Or feel free to contact the knowledgeable team at First4Lawyers, who will be happy to discuss your case with you for free.
We understand that you might be worried about the financial impact of making a claim. But the UK has made it possible for everyone to get access to justice after being injured.
No Win No Fee agreements were introduced to give everyone the chance to pursue legal action after an accident that was someone else’s fault. Most of the claims that we process are done on a No Win No Fee basis.
This type of agreement means that there is nothing to pay upfront, so you don’t have to worry about funding your claim. It also means that there is nothing to pay if your claim is unsuccessful, so there is no financial risk involved.
If your claim is successful, you’ll pay your solicitor a success fee – which will be up to 25%, but won’t be more.
Only pay a fee if you receive compensation
Our No Win No Fee solicitors will take a success fee from the compensation you are awarded for a successful claim in the form of a percentage of your damages. This could be up to 25% but it won't be more than that, except in cases of road traffic accidents. Changing laws mean our solicitors will now take a payment of 30% of the final compensation amount plus VAT for all road traffic accident claims.
First4Lawyers are an award-winning claims management company with a track record of delivering service that our clients love.
In most cases, you will have three years from the date of your accident to make a claim. But though this may sound like a long time, it’s advisable to start the process as soon as you can.
The sooner you begin your claim, the clearer the details of what happened will be in your mind. This is also usually true for any witnesses.
You might also find it easier to get hold of certain pieces of evidence, like your employer’s CCTV footage and medical records.
So it can pay to contact First4Lawyers as soon as you’re able.
Chances are, you’re not the only carer at your workplace. This means that if you were the victim of an accident, your colleagues could be too.
By making a claim, you could force your employer to examine what happened and resolve what caused the problem. This could prevent it happening to anyone else.
You may also find that you have to take some time off work, which can lead to lost earnings. Making a claim can help give you the time you need to recover without the stress of worrying about your finances.
It may also reassure you to know that it is against the law for your employer to sack you for claiming against them. It is also against the law for them to treat you differently for claiming. You could have an unfair dismissal claim against them if they took this kind of action.
At First4Lawyers, our priority is making you feel comfortable and confident about the claims process. We have won multiple awards for our customer service, showing that our focus is on ensuring you have the best possible experience at a difficult time.
We work with top solicitors, who will put together the strongest possible case on your behalf to get you the maximum compensation possible.
To find out if we could help you, like we helped Mr Major after a forklift truck accident, just get in touch.
You can give us a call, request a call back or start your claim online and we’ll do the rest.
Whether you want to make an accident and injury claim, or need a solicitor for personal or business law matters - our friendly team are here to help, 24/7.
Our fully trained legal advisors are happy to offer initial guidance and advice for free
No Win No Fee solicitors - you don't pay a penny up front when making a claim
We offer advice with no obligation. We never cold-call or apply pressure to our customers
