Professional Negligence Compensation Claims Guide

In this guide, we look at when and how you could claim for professional negligence. Professional negligence can occur when professionals, such as personal injury solicitors or architects, breach the duty of care they owe to a client. This can result in the client suffering a loss. Professional negligence claims aim to restore your financial position to what it would have been if negligence had not taken place.

As you move through this guide, you will find further details on the duty of care professionals owe, and how a loss could occur if this duty is not upheld.

There is a section that is dedicated to examining how a personal injury or medical negligence solicitor could be negligent and what this would mean for their client.

Professional negligence claims can be brought against many different professionals, so when calculating compensation, this will be on an individual basis depending on the circumstances of the case. However below we look at potential professional negligence compensation amounts.

In the penultimate section, we take a look at how a No Win No Fee solicitor could offer to represent your professional negligence claim via a specific fee arrangement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement.

Solicitor dealing with a professional negligence compensation claim

If you think you may have a professional negligence claim you can contact Accident Claims UK. Our team is on hand seven days a week to provide you with impartial advice on whether you have a claim. If you do, our team of specialist solicitors could help you get the compensation you deserve.

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What Is A Claim For Professional Negligence?

To become a professional, it takes extensive education, training and experience. A professional is considered to be someone qualified within their expert field of work. When a professional agrees to work for you, they owe you a duty of care to provide you with a reasonable service of skill and care. Failure to provide this standard of service could mean that you, their client, could suffer losses.

In order for you to claim for professional negligence compensation your case needs to meet the eligibility criteria. These criteria are,

  • That you were owed a duty of care by a professional,
  • That the professional breached this duty,
  • That the breach caused you a loss,

Beyond solicitors, various other professionals could owe you a duty of care: accountants, surveyors, financial advisors and architects.

To find out if you could make a professional negligence claim contact our team today at a time that suits you. Through a case evaluation that carries no obligation to proceed and is free of charge, you can find out the merits of your case.

Time Limits To Claim For Professional Negligence

In most instances, the limitation period to claim for professional negligence is 6 years. This means that legal proceedings must be initiated in court within this time frame.

Contact our team today to find out the time limitation exceptions for a claim for professional negligence.

What Is Solicitor Professional Negligence?

When making a personal injury claim or pursuing medical negligence compensation, you may opt to use a solicitor for legal presentation. Up on that solicitor agreeing to work for you they instantly owe you a duty of care. However in some instances, if that duty of care is not upheld you could suffer losses for which they could be liable for.

Here we are going to look at professional negligence by a solicitor examples:

  • Missed limitation period: A solicitor misses the limitation period stated in the Limitation Act 1980 for your personal injury claim. This causes your claim to become statute barred meaning you can no longer pursue this case.
  • Turning down a claim: If a solicitor turns down a claim which is close to the end of the limitation period, it may result in the person running out of time to claim.
  • Under settling a claim: A solicitor may recommend accepting an early offer or one which is too low. They may also miscalculate your claim by failing to take special damages into account.
  • Failing to identify all losses: The solicitor may have failed to include psychological injuries alongside physical injuries where relevant.
  • Poor legal advice: The solicitor could have given you poor legal advice which led you not to make a claim or otherwise to not pursue a claim.

Please contact Accident Claims UK to find out more about the different types of professional negligence claims you could make.

What Evidence Can Support Professional Negligence Claims?

In order to claim for professional negligence, you need to prove that the solicitor or other professional acted in a negligent way. Your professional negligence solicitor, if you choose to work with one, will help you to gather supporting evidence.

Evidence may include correspondence between you and the professional in the form of letters or emails. Recorded notes from meetings as well as witness statements with details of any in-person conversations. (Although you cannot take witness statements yourself if you collect their contact information a representative will take the statements).

Also, any evidence that will prove the loss you suffered because the professional failed to uphold their duty of care.

If you would like advice on the evidence that you would need to collect for a professional negligence claim, call our claims team today.

Examples Of Settlements In Professional Negligence Cases

How much compensation for professional negligence you could be eligible to claim will be dependent on your unique circumstances. The aim of the settlement is to restore you to a position had the negligence not occurred.

This means that how much you could be eligible to claim, compensation for professional negligence depends on the overall impact the negligence has had on you.

Below we have created a table of potential professional negligence compensation amounts. This is merely for illustrative purposes as the calculation of your possible compensation will reflect the circumstances of your case. How a professional negligence claim against a solicitor will be calculated will be entirely different to how a claim against an architect would.

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Type Of Professional Negligence Potential Compensation Payout
Solicitor Negligence Up to £500,000+
Accountancy Negligence Up to £500,000+
Architects Negligence Up to £500,000+
Consultant Negligence Up to £500,000+
Engineer Negligence Up to £500,000+

We should note that awards for professional negligence are also subject to 8% interest per annum.

Make A No Win No Fee Claim For Professional Negligence

Whether claiming against a negligent solicitor, engineer or architect, you could opt to work with a No Win No Fee professional negligence solicitor who could help you to claim compensation. Our specialist solicitors could offer services under a Conditional Fee Agreement CFA.

When working with a solicitor under a CFA on your professional negligence claim you would be in receipt of the following benefits:

  • Not having to make any upfront or ongoing payments for your solicitor’s service.
  • Not having to pay solicitor fees if your claim is not successful,
  • If your claim wins, the solicitor takes a success fee. This is a legally capped percentage of the compensation.

To find out if you could work with one of our No Win No Fee professional negligence solicitors under a CFA call a member of our team now. They will offer you a non-obligation consultation which is free of charge to see the merits of your case. If you have good grounds to claim professional negligence compensation, they will connect you to one of our solicitors.

Start Your Claim For Professional Negligence Today

Contact Accident Claims UK to make an enquiry about claiming for professional negligence. Our team of advisors are on hand seven days a week to provide you with free and confidential advice.

You can learn more about making a claim by contacting Accident Claims UK via,

Professional Negligence Claim Resources b

Below we have included external resources you might find helpful:

A guide from The Law Society on civil litigation

A guide from the Solicitors Regulation Authority on instructing a solicitor.

Learn more about understanding legal Jargon in this guide from the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Thank you for reading our guide on how to claim for professional negligence. To find out more about making this or any other type of claim, please contact our team today.