Deadline Under 18
None
parent can claim any time
If Capacity Affected
No limit
suspended indefinitely
Interim Payments
Yes
available before settlement
Upfront cost
£0
No Win No Fee
Personal Injury Solicitor at Claim Time Solicitors, Birmingham. Handling personal injury and child injury claims across England and Wales on a No Win No Fee basis.
Every guide we publish is verified against UK statute and current case law before release.
If avoidable failures in maternity or newborn care caused your child’s cerebral palsy, a claim for cerebral palsy compensation may be possible. Two points matter more than most families realise. First, you do not have to wait until your child is 18, and if their condition affects their mental capacity there may be no time limit at all. Second, interim payments can be made long before a case concludes, so funding for care and equipment does not have to wait years for a final settlement.
Most children with cerebral palsy do not have it because of anything anyone did wrong. It can arise for reasons nobody could have prevented. But in a proportion of cases, something went wrong during pregnancy, labour or the first days of life that should not have.
The pattern in the national data is stark. Claims involving cerebral palsy and brain damage at birth are small in number but the largest by value in the entire NHS system. In 2024/25, very high value claims made up around 2% of clinical negligence claims by volume but 68% of total costs, and obstetric cerebral palsy and serious brain injury claims settled at an average of roughly £11.2 million each.
Those figures are not a promise about any individual case. They are there to explain why these claims are handled differently from ordinary personal injury work, and why the way compensation is paid matters as much as the amount.
When cerebral palsy leads to a claim
Where the brain injury that caused the cerebral palsy was avoidable, and resulted from care that fell below a reasonable standard.
Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions affecting movement, posture and coordination, caused by damage to the developing brain. That damage can happen before birth, during labour and delivery, or shortly afterwards.
The circumstances that most often give rise to a claim for cerebral palsy compensation include:
- Failure to recognise or act on signs of fetal distress during labour
- Delay in delivering a baby who was in difficulty, including delayed caesarean section
- Oxygen deprivation during birth leading to hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy
- Inappropriate or excessive use of forceps or ventouse
- Failure to diagnose or treat maternal infection, including Group B Streptococcus
- Failure to monitor and treat severe jaundice or low blood sugar in a newborn
- Failure to escalate to a senior clinician when the situation required it
What has to be proved
That the care fell below a reasonable standard, and that the failure caused the injury. Both are needed. Poor care that made no difference to the outcome does not found a claim.
Definition
Breach and causation
Breach means the care fell below the standard of a responsible body of clinicians in that field.
Causation means that breach caused or materially contributed to the injury. In cerebral palsy cases causation is usually the harder of the two, because it requires expert evidence on the timing and mechanism of the brain injury.
This is the part families find hardest, and it is worth being honest about it. A distressing birth, or care that clearly could have been better, does not by itself mean a claim will succeed. The question is whether different care would have produced a different outcome.
Answering that needs expert evidence, typically from a consultant obstetrician, a neonatologist, a paediatric neurologist and a neuroradiologist, who will examine imaging to determine when the brain injury occurred. That is why investigating these cases takes time.
Time limits on cerebral palsy compensation
No time limit runs while your child is under 18. If their condition affects their mental capacity, the limitation period is suspended for as long as that continues, potentially indefinitely.
This is the most commonly misunderstood point in cerebral palsy compensation claims, and getting it wrong can stop a family claiming when they were never out of time.
| Situation | Who Can Claim | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Child under 18 | Parent or guardian, as litigation friend | No limitation period runs |
| Turns 18, capacity unaffected | The young person themselves | Three years, until their 21st birthday |
| Lacks mental capacity | A litigation friend, at any time | Suspended for as long as capacity is affected |
Section 28 of the Limitation Act 1980 suspends the limitation period while a person is under a disability, which covers both being under 18 and lacking mental capacity.
The capacity point matters enormously here. Where cerebral palsy has affected a person’s ability to make decisions about their own affairs, the three year clock may never have started running at all. Families of adults with severe cerebral palsy sometimes assume the opportunity passed years ago. That assumption is often wrong, and it is worth checking rather than acting on.
If you have been told, or assumed, that you are too late to claim for an adult child with cerebral palsy, get that checked before accepting it. Where capacity is affected there may be no deadline at all.
None of that is a reason to wait. Medical records, staffing rotas and witness recollection all degrade, and the investigation itself takes considerable time.
What cerebral palsy compensation covers
The injury itself, and the full lifetime cost of the care, equipment, therapy, housing and support your child will need.
Awards in these cases are large not because the injury is valued highly in isolation, but because they have to fund a lifetime. The bulk of any award is the cost of future care, calculated over the person’s expected lifespan.
A claim is usually built around:
- The injury itself, valued against the Judicial College Guidelines, 18th Edition[3]
- Professional care and support, often 24 hour in severe cases
- Case management to coordinate care and therapy
- Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy
- Assistive technology, wheelchairs, standing frames and communication aids
- Accommodation, whether adapting a home or funding a suitable one
- Adapted transport
- Special educational provision
- Loss of the earnings the person would have had
- Care already provided by parents, which is recoverable
- Court of Protection and deputyship costs
The last point on that list surprises people. Care you have provided yourself, often for years, is a recoverable loss rather than something the law expects families to absorb.
How compensation is paid
Often not as a single lump sum. Large cerebral palsy settlements are frequently structured as periodical payments: an index linked annual sum for life, alongside a lump sum.
Definition
Periodical Payment Order (PPO)
A settlement structure under which part of the compensation is paid as a fixed annual amount for the rest of the person’s life, index linked to care costs, rather than as a single lump sum.
This structure exists because of a genuine problem with lump sums in lifetime care cases. A lump sum has to be calculated on an assumed lifespan and assumed investment returns. If the person lives longer than predicted, or care costs rise faster than expected, the money can run out.
A periodical payment removes that risk. The annual sum continues for as long as the person lives and rises with care costs. NHS Resolution’s provision for future clinical negligence payments includes ongoing annual PPO payments for injured babies’ lifelong care, which reflects how routine this structure has become in these cases.
Typically a settlement combines both: a lump sum for accommodation, equipment and past losses, and periodical payments for ongoing care.
Interim payments before settlement
Where liability is admitted or clear, money can be released long before the case concludes, to fund care, therapy, equipment and housing now.
Cerebral palsy claims take a long time. NHS Resolution settles around 120 to 130 brain injury cases involving children each year, and historically these have taken an average of 11 to 12 years to conclude. That is because the full picture of a child’s needs cannot be assessed until their development is clearer.
Families cannot wait a decade for support, and the system recognises that. NHS Resolution’s Early Notification Scheme for obstetric cerebral palsy is designed to reach a decision on liability as early as possible and, where appropriate, make early interim payments to support affected families.
Interim payments can fund care packages, therapy, equipment, home adaptations and case management while the claim continues. For most families this is the practically important part of the process, and it is the thing most often not known about.
Parents often assume nothing happens until the end. In these cases the interim payment stage is frequently where the real difference is made, years before a final settlement.”
Do you have a valid cerebral palsy claim?
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How the money is managed
Any settlement for a child needs court approval. Where the person lacks capacity to manage their own finances, the Court of Protection appoints a deputy.
Summary
Cerebral palsy compensation claims are among the most complex in the field, and among the most consequential. Where an avoidable failure in care caused a child’s brain injury, compensation funds a lifetime of care rather than compensating a single event.
Two things are worth taking from this page. If your child’s condition affects their mental capacity, there may be no time limit on claiming, whatever their age now. And where liability is clear, interim payments can fund care and equipment years before a case concludes.
Key takeaways
- A claim requires both a breach of duty and proof that it caused the injury
- No limitation period runs while a child is under 18
- Where mental capacity is affected, the limitation period is suspended indefinitely
- Compensation covers lifetime care, therapy, equipment, housing and lost earnings
- Care already provided by parents is recoverable
- Settlements are often structured as periodical payments rather than a single lump sum
- Interim payments can fund support long before the claim concludes
- Take advice on personal injury trusts before compensation is received, to protect means tested benefits
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it too late to claim if my child is now an adult?
Possibly not. If your child’s cerebral palsy affects their mental capacity to manage their own affairs, the limitation period is suspended for as long as that continues, so there may be no deadline at all regardless of their age. This is worth checking rather than assuming.
Can we get help with care costs before the claim finishes?
Often yes. Where liability is admitted or clear, interim payments can be made long before a case concludes, funding care packages, therapy, equipment, home adaptations and case management. NHS Resolution’s Early Notification Scheme is designed partly to enable this in obstetric cerebral palsy cases.
Why do these claims take so long?
Because a child’s long term needs cannot be assessed until their development becomes clearer, and because causation requires evidence from several medical experts. NHS Resolution has historically taken an average of 11 to 12 years to settle brain injury cases involving children. Interim payments exist precisely because families cannot wait that long for support.
Will compensation affect my child's benefits?
Can we claim if the birth was at a private hospital?
Yes. Private providers are held to the same standard of care as the NHS. The main practical difference is that a private hospital’s insurer handles the claim rather than NHS Resolution.
Do we have to pay anything upfront?
No. These claims are handled on a No Win No Fee basis. If the claim is unsuccessful and you have complied with the agreement, you pay nothing for our work. Your solicitor should explain any deductions and insurance arrangements clearly before you sign anything.
Glossary of Key Terms
Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general guidance only and does not constitute legal advice. Compensation outcomes vary by individual case and depend on the specific facts and evidence. Claim Time Solicitors is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (ID No. 444171) and accredited by The Law Society . No Win No Fee refers to a Conditional Fee Agreement; the solicitor’s success fee is capped at 25% of compensation recovered. Terms apply.
