Broken Collarbone
Compensation Claims
Clavicle and shoulder injuries that were not your fault
A broken collarbone takes over your life for a while. You cannot drive, you cannot lift, and sleeping is miserable. If someone else caused the accident, you may be able to claim. We will look at what happened and give you an honest view.
Regulated solicitors
Years' experience
No Win No Fee
Can you claim for a broken collarbone?
Usually yes. If you have had an accident at work and you are self-employed, the reason you can often still claim is simpler than the employment status arguments you may have read about.
You may be able to make a broken collarbone compensation claim if the accident happened in the last three years and someone else was at fault, at least in part. That might be a driver who pulled out on you, an employer who did not keep you safe, or whoever was responsible for a pavement or a premises where you fell.
You can often still claim if you were partly responsible yourself. Compensation is usually reduced to reflect your share rather than refused outright. The collarbone is one of the most commonly broken bones in the body, and a good number of those breaks happen in accidents that need not have happened at all.
Sling or surgery, and why it changes your claim
Most collarbone fractures are left to heal on their own in a sling. Some need an operation to hold the bone with a plate and screws. Which road you end up on affects the claim more than almost anything else, and it is often not clear in the first few weeks.
Healed in a sling
The common route. The arm is supported, the bone knits, and over a period of weeks the pain settles. Many people are left with a visible lump where the bone healed, and some notice aching when carrying weight or in cold weather.
A claim here tends to be about the weeks you could not drive, work or sleep properly, and about anything that has not fully settled.
Fixed with surgery
Where the bone is badly displaced, has broken into several pieces, has come through the skin, or has not knitted on its own, an operation may be needed to plate it. That brings a scar, a longer recovery, sometimes a second operation to remove metalwork, and occasionally lasting numbness around the scar.
A claim on this route usually looks quite different, because there is more to account for and more that can persist.
This is the honest reason nobody should quote you a figure early. Until it is clear whether the bone has united properly, whether you need surgery, and whether you are left with restricted movement, there is no sensible way to value what the injury has cost you. Settling before that is known is how people end up under-compensated.
A small number of collarbone fractures do not join up as they should, or heal in a poor position. If you are months down the line and still in pain, or the shoulder is not moving as it should, say so. That changes the picture and it is worth raising early.
This is general information about how these injuries are usually managed, not medical advice. Your treatment is a matter for your doctors.
Accidents that break collarbones
The collarbone breaks in a very particular way: you land on the shoulder or on an outstretched arm and the force travels up. Almost anything that puts you on the ground hard can do it.
Cycling accidents
Going over the handlebars is the classic mechanism, and a driver turning across you or opening a door is a classic cause.
Road traffic accidents
A seatbelt crossing the collarbone can break it in a front impact, and motorcyclists and pedestrians take the force directly.
Accidents at work
Falls from ladders and platforms, being struck by something falling, or a slip on a floor nobody dealt with.
Slips, trips and falls
A raised paving slab, an unlit step or an unmarked wet floor in a shop. Putting an arm out to save yourself is what does the damage.
Sport and leisure
Common in contact sport and horse riding. A claim depends on someone being at fault rather than on the ordinary risks of playing.
Other shoulder injuries
The same falls often cause a dislocated shoulder, a broken shoulder blade or rotator cuff damage. We handle shoulder injury claims of all kinds, so ask about broken shoulder compensation too if that is what you were told you had.
Collarbone fractures are among the most common breaks there are, reported in clinical literature as accounting for up to around a tenth of all fractures. Common does not mean minor, and it certainly does not mean unavoidable.
How much compensation for a broken collarbone?
There is no set figure for collarbone injury compensation, and you should be wary of any firm that gives you one before a doctor has examined you. Two people with the same X-ray can end up in very different places.
General damages
For the injury itself and its effect on your life. The courts work from the Judicial College Guidelines, which set out bracket ranges by severity. Those are guidance for valuing a claim, not a promise of what anyone will receive.
What moves a collarbone claim within that framework is whether it united properly, whether surgery was needed, whether you have lasting restriction or scarring, and which arm it was.
Special damages
For what the injury has cost you and will cost you:
- Lost income while you could not work
- Future earnings if the injury affects what you can do
- Vehicle damage, repairs and hire
- Treatment, physiotherapy and travel to appointments
- Care and help at home while you recovered
Keep receipts and keep a note of the days you missed. Collarbone injuries are easy to under-claim for, because the disruption is spread across a lot of small things rather than one big one.
Evidence that supports a
collarbone claim
You do not need all of this before you get in touch, and we request most of it for you. Here is what tends to matter.
Did not go to hospital straight away? It happens, particularly where people assume it is a bad bruise. Tell us honestly when you were seen and why there was a gap. It is far better raised by you at the start than by the other side later on.
No Win No Fee broken collarbone claims
A No Win No Fee agreement, properly called a Conditional Fee Agreement, means there is nothing to pay upfront. If the claim does not succeed, you do not pay us for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance is deducted from your compensation, and insurance is usually put in place to cover the other side’s costs. The percentage is set out in writing before you sign anything.
If money is tight while you are off work, ask about interim payments. They can sometimes be available where fault has been admitted and there is a clear need.
Broken collarbone claims
your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
Can I claim for a broken collarbone?
You may be able to if someone else was at fault, at least in part, and the accident was within the last three years. That covers a driver, an employer, a council responsible for a pavement, or an occupier responsible for premises. You still have to show they were careless, so tell us how it happened and we will look at whether that can be established.
How much compensation will I get?
Nobody can tell you honestly at this stage, and it is worth being cautious about anyone who tries. It depends on whether the bone healed properly, whether surgery was needed, what you are left with, and what the injury cost you in earnings and help. The courts use the Judicial College Guidelines as a framework for valuing injuries, but those are guidance rather than a promise. Once the medical evidence is in, your solicitor can explain what your claim may be worth.
How long does a broken collarbone take to heal?
It varies a good deal from person to person, and your own medical team is the right source on your case. Broadly, adults are often looking at a couple of months for the bone to knit, children tend to heal faster, and getting full strength and movement back usually takes longer than the bone itself does. Some fractures do not unite as they should and need more treatment. If your recovery is not going the way you were told to expect, that is worth mentioning to us as well as to your doctor.
Does a claim take longer if I needed surgery?
Often, yes, and usually for a good reason. Where there has been an operation there is more to assess: how the fixation held, whether metalwork needs removing, how the scar settles, and whether any restriction is permanent. Claims are not normally finalised until a doctor can say what you are likely to be left with, because settling before that is known tends to work against the injured person. How quickly fault is admitted also makes a difference.
Can I claim for my child's broken collarbone?
Yes. A parent or guardian can bring a claim on behalf of a child as their litigation friend. The time limits work differently too: the usual three years does not start running until the child turns 18, so a claim can generally be brought up to their 21st birthday. Any compensation for a child is normally approved by the court and held until they are 18.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Usually three years from the date of the accident. For a child the three years runs from their 18th birthday, and where a person lacks the mental capacity to claim there may be no time limit at all. It is worth asking early even so, because CCTV and dashcam footage is often overwritten within weeks.
Find out where you stand
Tell us how the accident happened and how your recovery has gone so far. We will tell you whether there is a claim worth bringing and what would happen next. If we do not think there is one, we will say so.
- Free, confidential and without obligation
- No Win No Fee available
- SRA-regulated solicitors
Check if you can make a claim
Takes less than 60 seconds
Other claims we handle
Find out whether you have a claim
A broken collarbone is often written off as one of those things, because it is so common. If someone else put you on the ground, it is worth ten minutes of checking. The conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
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