By Stephen Burke. Last Updated 3rd February 2025. This guide discusses how to make a back injury at work claim.
Back injuries can arise in many different ways in workplaces. Muscles can be pulled or strained while lifting heavy items, or a person could slip, trip and fall, landing on their back. If the accident happened because of your employer’s negligence, you could claim compensation.
Such a course of action is justified. A back injury at work can cause significant problems in your life. You may have to take time off and it may disrupt your everyday life.
Below, we explain how you can begin a compensation claim. We cover the evidence you may need, average compensation payouts, and how to take advantage of a No Win No Fee agreement.
We also explain how a personal injury solicitor could offer to handle your case through Accident Claims UK.
If you would like to make a claim for a back injury at work, do not hesitate to contact our team. The number to call is 0800 073 8801.
Select a Section
- Average Payout For A Back Injury At Work In The UK
- Can I Make A Back Injury At Work Claim?
- What Could Cause A Back Injury At Work?
- How To Prove A Back Injury At Work Claim
- No Win No Fee Back Injury At Work Claims
- Useful Links On Injury At Work Claims
Average Payout For A Back Injury At Work In The UK
No two personal injury claims are ever identical. Since every claim differs from each other, knowing the average payout for back injury at work in the UK won’t be useful for your claim. If your back injury at work claim is successful, your compensation may consist of two heads:
- General damages: This is the compensation which you may seek for your physical and mental injuries.
- Special Damages: This is the compensation which you may seek for the financial losses you’ve suffered due to the injuries.
Your back injury solicitor or the person valuing your claim may refer to the Judicial College guidelines (JCG). This is a document that lists various injuries along with their possible compensation brackets. We’ve included some of the figures pertaining to back injuries in the table below (apart from the first row). Please note that these figures are only guidelines and not final.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Amount Guideline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries Plus Special Damages | Serious | Serious combinations of injuries leading to pain, suffering and financial losses, such as medical expenses. | Up to £250,000+ |
| Injury to the back | Severe (i) | Severe damage to the nerve roots and spinal cord that result in significant pain and serious consequences. | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| Injury to the back | Severe (ii) | Impaired mobility with a loss of sensation due to nerve root damage in the back. | £90,510 to £107,910 |
| Injury to the back | Severe (iii) | Disc lesions or fractures that cause severe pain, with impaired agility and sexual function despite undergoing treatment. | £47,320 to £85,100 |
| Injury to the back | Moderate (i) | The lumbar vertebrae suffers a compression or crush fracture that causes constant discomfort. | £33,880 to £47,320 |
| Injury to the back | Moderate (ii) | Injuries could include disturbance of the muscles and ligaments in the back that cause backache. Or, soft tissue injuries that exacerbate/accelerate an already existing condition. | £15,260 to £33,880 |
| Injury to the back | Minor (i) | A full recovery from a sprain, disc prolapse or soft tissue injury happens within 2-5 years. | £9,630 to £15,260 |
| Injury to the back | Minor (ii) | Within 1-2 years a full recovery is made from a soft tissue injury or sprain/strain. | £5,310 to £9,630 |
| Injury to the back | Minor (iii) | A minor back injury such as a sprain fully recovers between 3 months to a year. | £2,990 to £5,310 |
On the other hand, there are no guidelines for calculating special damages. Some of the financial losses which you may include in your claim are:
- Travel costs for medical appointments.
- Care costs
- Loss of earnings if you need to take time off from work.
- Medical expenses
You can continue reading this guide to check if you have an eligible back injury at work claim. You can also contact our advisors for a free case assessment.
Can I Make A Back Injury At Work Claim?
If you’ve suffered a back injury at work, you may be wondering if you could claim compensation. Employers owe their employees a duty of care under certain legislation including the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They must take reasonably practicable steps to prevent you suffering harm while you are working.
Depending on the work you do, these steps could include:
- Providing adequate training in carrying out manual handling tasks safely.
- Risk assessing the work environment and removing hazards that have been identified.
- Providing sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) in good condition if it’s required for certain tasks.
To be eligible to make a back injury at work claim, you need to establish the following with evidence:
- Your employer owed you a duty of care.
- This was breached through actions or a lack of appropriate action.
- You suffered injuries as a direct result of this breach.
To ask questions about whether you’re eligible to start a work accident claim, or about other related matters such as the average payout for a back injury at work in the UK, please contact our advisors for free today.
Back Injury At Work Claims – What Are The Time Limits?
In this guide, we have explored the difficulty in gaining a definitive estimate for the average payout for a back injury in the UK. We have also provided you information on the criteria that you must meet to make a claim for a back injury and some compensation examples that you could receive.
Part of the criteria that you must meet is ensuring that your claim is started within the correct limitation period, as set out by the Limitation Act 1980. For back injury claims, the time limit generally is 3 years from that date of the accident.
There are also exceptions to this time limit. For example, minors will have 3 years to put forward a claim once they turn 18. However, a litigation friend could start a claim on their behalf before this date while the time limit is suspended. This is someone appointed by the court.
Similar exceptions can be made to those who lack the mental capacity to start their own claim.
To learn more about the time limits, please get in touch with our team. They can also provide information on back injury compensation examples.
What Could Cause A Back Injury At Work?
There are various types of workplace accidents that could cause you to suffer an injured back at work. Some examples could include:
- Unsafe manual handling practices – If you are not trained in how to lift, carry, or move goods safely, you could suffer a back injury at work, such as a strain or soft tissue injury.
- Slips, trips, and falls at work – If there are hazards in the workplace that mean you suffer, a slip, trip or fall, this could lead to a back injury too. For example, if there are trailing wires in an office environment that have not been properly secured down, this could cause you to trip and fall, injuring your back.
- Fall from heights – If you are working at height, it is essential that safety precautions are taken to avoid accidents. For example, if some scaffolding on a building site has not been properly fitted, you could fall through the railing and suffer a serious back injury.
These are just a few examples of accidents. To see whether you may be eligible to make a personal injury claim for compensation for a back injury at work, you can contact a member of our advisory team.
How To Prove A Back Injury At Work Claim
If you are eligible to make an accident at work claim, you could collect evidence to help prove that negligence occurred. Some examples of the evidence that you could gather for your back injury at work claim include:
- Medical evidence about your injuries – this could be a copy of your medical records.
- CCTV footage that shows the accident.
- A copy of the report in the accident book.
- Photographs of the accident scene.
- The contact details of any eyewitnesses so that they could provide a statement at a future date.
- Evidence of any financial losses you have suffered due to your injuries. For example, if you required time off work, this could have resulted in lost earnings. Your payslips could be used as proof of these losses.
Additionally, if you decide to have the support of a solicitor for your claim, they could assist you with gathering this evidence as part of their services.
Contact our team of advisors today if you have any questions, such as, ‘What is the average payout for a back injury at work?’ They may also put you in touch with one of our solicitors who could represent you in your claim, provided you have a valid case.
No Win No Fee Back Injury At Work Claims
If you’re eligible to claim compensation for a back injury at work, you may wish to get help with your claim. By working with a solicitor, you can ensure your case is put together professionally. A solicitor, such as our own, could assist you in gathering evidence, and they could negotiate for an appropriate settlement for your claim.
If you’ve injured your back at work, compensation could relieve the financial pressure caused by your injuries. If you’re worried about your financial position, in this regard, we should point out that using a solicitor doesn’t have to mean paying them upfront.
One of our solicitors could offer to take on your claim under a CFA (Conditional Fee Agreement). This is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. Under it, you would not pay anything upfront to your solicitor for their work, or throughout the progression of your claim.
Instead, your solicitor would deduct what is called a success fee (a legally capped percentage of your payout) from the settlement. If your claim for a back injury at work did not result in a payout, you will not have to pay them for their services.
To check if one of our solicitors could help you make a No Win No Fee claim, you can contact an advisor at any time. You can reach our team by using one of the following methods:
- Call us on 0800 073 8801 to speak with an adviser.
- You can enquire online by clicking here and using our online form.
- Please send us an email with the outline of your injury and how it happened to office@accidentclaims.co.uk.
- Use our live chat to speak with an adviser in real-time. Click the icon on the right corner of the page.
Useful Links On Injury At Work Claims
Below, you can find some useful links on accident at work claims:
- How To Make An Accident At Work Claim – A complete guide to claiming compensation
- Stress at Work Claims – If you have suffered stress due to a work-related incident, please speak to one of our advisers.
- Assaulted at Work Claims Guide – In the event you are assaulted at work, you may consider taking legal action. If that is the case, then our claims team could be of assistance.
- Legal Rights After a Workplace Accident – Naturally, you may question what your legal rights are if you have been injured at work. Why not take a look at our guide to learn more?
- NHS Back Pain – This guide to back pain from the NHS provide information, advice, and tips on the diagnosis and treatment of back pain.
- Health and Safety Executive – Information on back pain in the workplace from the HSE.
- Building Site Accident – If you have suffered from a building site accident, please take a look at our guide. You can learn how we could help you.
- Self Employed Accident at Work Guide – Take a look at our guide if you are self-employed and have been injured at your place of work.
- What are my legal rights after an accident? – Please read our guide to learn more about your legal rights after a workplace accident.
If you need any more advice and guidance on making a claim for a back injury at work, please call.
