Will I Get Paid If I Am Injured In A Workplace Accident?

By Lewis Hendrix. Last Updated 19th May 2023.

This guide answers the question, “Will I get paid if I am injured in a workplace accident?” we’ll cover your rights following a workplace accident, including your entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and whether your employer will provide additional payments on top of this.

Other important areas we cover are the time limit to make a claim, how compensation amounts are calculated, and what procedures should be followed when a workplace accident occurs.

Towards the end of the guide is a short overview of the type of No Win No Fee contract offered by our panel of solicitors. In particular, this section focuses on the advantages to you of making your accident work claim with us under such an agreement. 

To ask our advisors, “if I get injured at work, do I get paid?” or for a free eligiblity assessment, contact the team at any time using the details given here:

will i get paid if i am injured in a workplace accident

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What Is A Workplace Accident?

A workplace accident is an accident that happens while you are at work. This could be on the road, in an office, on a building site or even at a client’s premises. The nature of the work that you do and the place you do the work in should be assessed for risks before you carry out such work and your employer should ensure that the risks are as low as can be reasonably expected to avoid workplace injury. They could do so by providing relevant safety training, fitting guards to machinery, providing you with the PPE required to do the job safely, setting your workspace up correctly and ensuring the workplace’s foreseeable risks are counteracted as much as possible. If they do not do so, and you become injured in a workplace accident, you could look at getting paid after a workplace accident for the injury you’ve sustained and the financial implications of such an injury.

What Procedures Should I Follow If Injured In A Workplace Accident?

Should you be injured in a workplace accident, you could follow the below procedures to help to strengthen any claim you may wish to make, to get paid after a workplace accident.

  1. You should report what has happened as soon as you possibly can
  2. You should get medical help as quickly as possible
  3. You should ensure that your accident is written in your employer’s accident book. If the employer you’re working for does not have a book, then you should write details of what’s happened down, and make a copy for yourself, giving them the other.
  4. If you are unable to report the incident due to your injuries, then you should make sure someone else does completes an accident report in the manner above,
  5. Make sure if it is a reportable injury – see here – that it is reported to the relevant authority.

The procedure above could give you a strong chance of receiving benefits you could be entitled to, as well as strengthening your claim for being injured in the workplace.

What Duty Of Care Does My Employer Have?

Your employer, as mentioned above, owes you, as an employee, a duty of care as to your safety and wellbeing while you are under their employ. This is as per the common law duty of care as well as health and safety and employment law. There is a wide range of actions that could be considered necessary to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of staff and these could include:

  • Consulting with staff on issues that could affect them
  • Giving opportunity for staff to raise matters of concern
  • Protecting employees from being discriminated against
  • Protecting employees from being bullied or harassed
  • Providing areas for employees to rest or relax
  • Making sure staff do not have to work excessive numbers of hours
  • Providing training that is relevant to their role, as well as performance feedback
  • Ensuring a safe working environment
  • Undertaking relevant risk assessments
  • Clearly defining tasks

If your employer failed to take care of you in this manner, and you were injured in a workplace accident, then you could look into getting paid after a workplace accident as part of a compensation claim.

Do I Get Full Pay If Injured At Work?

If you have been injured in an accident at work, you might be wondering, ‘Do I get full pay if I am injured at work?’ Full sick pay is something that would be included in your employment contract and is not something your employer is obliged to provide.

If you require time off to recover from your injuries following a workplace accident, you could be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). You could receive £109.40 per week if you are too ill to work and can be paid for up to 28 weeks by your employer.

However, to be eligible for SSP, you must meet the following criteria:

  • Being classed as an employee and have done some work for your employer.
  • Earning at least an average of £123 per week.
  • You must have been affected for at least four days in a row, including non-working days.

Additionally, you may be able to claim a loss of earnings as part of your personal injury claim. However, you would need to provide evidence of this, such as a copy of your payslips.

If you have any questions about making a claim for an injury at work, or about sick pay, you can contact our advisors. Our friendly team is available 24/7 to help you.

Could My Employer Refuse Me Sick Pay?

There are a few incidents in which you might not get paid after an accident at work in terms of SSP. These could include if you were:

  • Self-employed
  • You’ve already had statutory sick pay for 28 weeks within the preceding 8 weeks
  • You’ve received ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) within the preceding 12 weeks
  • You’re on statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance
  • You’re pregnant and the child is due within 4 weeks, and you’re off work because of a pregnancy-related reason
  • You’re working in the armed forces
  • You’ve given birth in the preceding 14 weeks (18 if your baby was born 4 weeks or more early)
  • You’re in prison
  • You’ve been detained by law
  • Your work is in the agricultural sector

Am I Eligible For Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit?

If you develop an industrial disease or illness in the workplace and are classed as disabled because of this, you could be entitled to look at getting paid after an accident at work in terms of IIDB.

You would have to prove that your disablement/illness/disease occurred at your work or on a training scheme or course you were on was approved.

A medical advisor would asses you and give a report on the percentage of disablement you suffered. If this is over 14% then you could receive IIDB.

You cannot claim this if you are classed as self-employed. If you would like to know more about how this could be paid after an accident at work, then why not call our team for clarification.

How Long Do I Have To Claim If Injured In A Workplace?

In terms of injuries that happen from one-off incidents, you would usually have a period of three years; this limitation period begins the day of the accident in most cases.

However, there could be exceptions to this – they could be because your industrial illness or injury was not discovered until later, or you could not have known that the condition was because of your work before. You might also have longer if you have not had the capacity to claim – ie you were badly injured and could not claim as you didn’t have the mental or physical ability to claim at the time. For time limit information specific to your case, just call us and we’ll clarify.

What Injuries At Work Could I Be Paid For?

In terms of the injuries you could receive compensation for, there could be two different types of compensation you could be paid after an accident at work.

The first would relate to accidents that happen once, causing you immediate harm. This could include:

  • Fall accidents
  • Slip accidents
  • Trip accidents
  • Burn accidents (fire, electrical or chemicals)
  • Being struck by an object
  • Machine related injuries
  • Needlesticks

If your employer was deemed to be liable for the accident in question, then you could – in terms of compensation – get paid after a workplace accident.

If you’re wondering how much compensation you could claim for an accident at work, you might be interested to know that it is not just your injury (general damages) that you might be compensated for if you’re injured in a workplace accident. You could claim the costs for things such as care costs (if someone has had to come and help you with daily tasks such as washing, dressing etc) or you could claim for losses in your income that might occur because you have had time off work because you needed to recover from your injuries and could not complete your usual work while you did so. In terms of being off work for a longer period in the future, either through disablement or further surgery being required later on, which you will have to recover from, an award for this prospective loss could be considered. As well as this, special damages could include claiming back the cost of prescriptions, mobility aids, adaptations to your home and more.

If you have a cost that you’re unsure would be covered, why not call our team and we could help to work this out for you. We would be happy to help.

Injured In A Workplace Accident Compensation Claims Calculator

Will I get paid if injured at work? Quite possibly, you could as part of a compensation claim. Some people use a personal injury claims calculator to work out an approximation of what their claim might be worth, but on this page, we have provided an alternative solution. Below, you will find information pertaining to certain injuries that could be suffered in an accident at work. We have provided the bracket compensation amounts that the Judicial College has issued for these injuries below.

Compensation Table

Please do bear in mind that this is only a guide. The first entry is not a JCG figure

Area of injury and severityBracketNotes
Multiple Very Serious Injuries as well as Substantial Financial LossesUp to £1,000,000 +The injured person will have suffered multiple very serious injuries an incurred serious financial losses such as lost pay, care costs and medical expenses.
Back injuries – Severe (i)£111,150 to £196,450Lasting effects on life from injuries such as broken backs
Back injuries – Moderate (i)£33,880 to £47,320Ligament and muscle damage, painful until healed
Total or Effective Loss of One Hand£117,360 to £133,810For example, a surgical amputation following a crush injury.
Both hands – Serious damage£68,070 to £103,200You could have reduced function. This could be permanent
Arm Injuries – Less severe£23,430 to £47,810Despite significant disabilities, a great degree of recovery is anticipated
Ankle Injuries – ModestUp to £16,770Less serious sprains, simple fractures, should heal fully
Shoulder Injuries - Moderate£9,630 to £15,580Frozen shoulder with limited movement for about 2 years
Shoulder Injuries - Minor (i)£5,310 to £9,630Soft tissues injuries with virtual recovery within 2 years.

If you don’t see the specific injury/issue you have sustained, then our helpline could help to provide this information. Why not give us a call to see what bracket your workplace injury could fall into.

No Win No Fee Injured In A Workplace Compensation Claims

You might notice that we mentioned working with a no win no fee solicitor for your workplace injury claim earlier on in this guide. Here, we will explain just what this means and how it could benefit you. In terms of getting started, you would first discuss the terms of a no win no fee agreement with your solicitor. They would explain to you how much (percentage) of your settlement figure they would be taking in legal fees, but they should not ask you for money upfront to begin your claim. You might wish to know that there is a limit on how much the solicitor could be paid after a workplace accident claim has been settled. The government have set this as a quarter of your payout.

Once the agreement (also known as a CFA) has been signed, then the personal injury lawyer would be able to begin the process of building a case against the liable party. Then, once your claim was settled, they would be able to take the pre-agreed percentage of your settlement from the settlement itself and the rest would be yours.

This obviously could lead to less financial risk to you, but as well as this, you could benefit from knowing that your lawyer would not be taking on your injured in a workplace accident claim without being confident that they would have a good chance of success. In addition to this, you would be aware – and so would your lawyer – that the legal fees would be impacted by the amount of compensation paid out, so you’d know your lawyer would be trying naturally to get as much as they could for you.

Speak To Our Accident Claims Experts

Should you have any more questions about making an injured in the workplace accident claim, or even if you’re ready to get started with a personal injury claim, here at Accident Claims UK we could provide all the answers, support and guidance you need to move forward. From giving you more information about the no win no fee claims process, to advising you on the accident claims time limit applicable to your claim, we work tirelessly to make sure you are fully informed about every aspect of making a claim. If you’d like us to, we could also assist with connecting you with an appropriately experienced solicitor who could work to handle your claim for you.

We know only too well how stressful the thought of making a claim could be, and we work hard to make sure that you experience as little stress as possible when making a claim so that you could work on your recovery and moving forward after your injury. To benefit from our experience and assistance, simply call 0800 073 8801, fill out the contact form or use the live chat on this page. We’re happy to help in any way we can.

Resources And Guides

Below, you can find some more guides on accident at work claims that you may find helpful:

Thank you for taking the time to read our guide. We hope to have answered “will i get paid if i am injured in a workplace accident” in length. However, if you happen too have any questions, please feel free to contact our team to learn more.