What is compensation?

Compensation is a financial award and can be paid for all sorts of reasons including:

• to recognise the injuries, physical and mental, caused by someone's negligence or as a result of a violent crime
• in certain circumstances, for past or future lost earnings or other expenses
• for losses you have suffered because a person or organisation has broken a contract they have made with you
• to recognise the fact that someone has ruined the enjoyment of your property by behaving in an unreasonable way e.g. a tree root from a neighbour's garden has damaged your house or the owners of a neighbouring factory allow noisy machinery to interfere with your sleep.

When can I claim compensation?

There are many problems for which you might be able to claim compensation. A 'personal injury' is the most likely one for which you might feel you need compensation. You could be compensated if you were injured (or suffer some other loss):

• because of an accident at work
• in a traffic accident
• when using a product that turned out to be faulty
• because of a mistake during medical treatment
• because you were a victim of a crime
• because you tripped on a paving stone or slipped on a wet floor in a shop
• because a gas or electrical appliance wasn't properly serviced
• when hit by a falling roof tile.

Not all claims for compensation are because you have been injured. You may be able to claim compensation because, for example:

• your holiday did not live up to what was promised by your tour operator
• you were mis-sold an insurance or pension policy
• your landlord failed to carry out a repair to your home.

However, to win your claim, you will have to prove that the person or organisation you are claiming from:

• was 'negligent', which means they did not take reasonable care when they should have done or
• breached a contract they have with you, which means that they have broken their side of a legally enforceable contract that you made with them or
• did not do something the law says they should (for example, if your employer did not provide you with certain health and safety equipment you need to do your job safely) or
• has ruined the enjoyment of your property by behaving in an unreasonable way (for example, if they allowed a tree root from their garden to damage your home or if their noisy machinery stops you sleeping).

Is it always worth claiming compensation?

In some situations, you may have little choice but to claim compensation. For example, you may have been seriously injured and:

• be unable to return to work or to the job you were doing before you were injured
• need expensive care and rehabilitation treatment
• need money to pay for adaptations to your home so you can live there as independently as possible.

At other times, claiming compensation might seem like the only way to make sure that what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else.

But when thinking about whether to claim compensation, remember that compensation claims are not always quick or easy. You may lose your case after having spent time and money on it. You may find being involved in a legal case very stressful. There are lots of uncertainties and the person or organisation you are claming from may challenge your view of what happened. Think about whether or not you'd be satisfied if the situation was resolved differently - by the person responsible apologising, perhaps, or offering to put things right in some other way.

March 2007