PTSD Compensation Claims
After an accident, an assault, medical treatment or military service
A psychiatric injury is as real as a broken bone and the law treats it that way, though the rules around proving it are stricter and less well known. We handle PTSD claims on a No Win No Fee basis. You can talk to us in confidence, at your own pace, without committing to anything.
Regulated solicitors
Years' experience
No Win No Fee
How to file PTSD compensation claims?
Two things have to be true, and it is worth being straight about both before you spend any energy on this.
THE FIRST THING
A diagnosed psychiatric injury
The law compensates a recognised psychiatric condition diagnosed by a suitably qualified expert. It does not compensate grief, upset, anger or ordinary distress, however genuine and however severe they feel. That distinction sounds harsh written down, and it is the gate every claim of this kind has to pass through
PTSD is one such condition. So are complex PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders and adjustment disorders. You do not need a diagnosis before you call, and part of what we arrange is an independent expert assessment.
THE SECOND THING
Someone else was responsible
The event that caused it has to be traceable to somebody’s fault: a driver, an employer, a hospital, an occupier of premises. The exception is a violent crime, where the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority can pay for a disabling mental injury even when there is nobody to sue.
You do not have to have been physically hurt. A psychiatric injury on its own is claimable, and often the physical injuries were the least of it.
Looking for PIP, ESA or ill-health retirement? This is not that. A compensation claim and a disability benefit are entirely different systems, and we cannot help with benefits. If PTSD is affecting your ability to work or manage day to day, start with GOV.UK for PIP and Employment and Support Allowance, or with your union or pension scheme for ill-health retirement. We would rather say so now than take up your afternoon.
How PTSD compensation claims arise
PTSD does not belong to one kind of accident. It runs across most of them, and the route your claim takes depends on what happened rather than on the diagnosis.
Road traffic collisions
The most common single source. Driving anxiety, flashbacks at junctions and avoidance of the road where it happened are all recognisable, and they can outlast the physical injuries by years. See road traffic accident claims.
Accidents and incidents at work
Being badly hurt, seeing a colleague badly hurt, or being sent into a situation nobody prepared you for. See accident at work claims.
Violent crime and assault
Handled through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority where there is no one to sue, and that route pays for a disabling mental injury on its own. See criminal injury compensation claims.
Medical treatment that went wrong
Including traumatic birth experiences, which are among the most under-reported psychiatric injuries there are. See medical negligence claims.
Military service
Service personnel and veterans have two possible routes: the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which is no-fault and allows longer to apply, and a civil claim against the Ministry of Defence, which requires negligence. They can run together, but you cannot be paid twice for the same injury.
of serving and ex-serving UK Armed Forces personnel reported probable PTSD in 2024
That figure was 4% in 2004 to 2006 and 6% in 2014 to 2016. Among those who have left the forces it stands at 11%, against 7% for those still serving, and it is higher again for personnel who deployed in a combat role to Iraq or Afghanistan. If you are wondering whether what you are dealing with is unusual, it is not.
Source: King’s College London, Health and Wellbeing Study of Serving and Ex-Serving UK Armed Forces Personnel, Phase 4, published March 2024
Symptoms may arrive late
The NHS is clear that symptoms can appear straight after the event, or many months, or even years, later. That is not unusual and it does not weaken what you are experiencing.
It matters legally too, because the deadline for claiming can run from when you first realised the condition was connected to what happened, rather than from the event itself.
Can you make PTSD compensation claims for witnessing trauma?
Sometimes, but the circumstances are narrow. The Supreme Court significantly clarified and restricted this area of law in 2024, so some older explanations online are now misleading.
Sometimes, but the rules are strict. The Supreme Court significantly clarified and restricted this area of law in 2024.
You may be a primary victim if the defendant’s negligence exposed you, or you reasonably believed it exposed you, to physical danger. You do not need to have suffered a physical injury. Simply witnessing an event does not necessarily make you a primary victim.
A secondary victim is someone who suffers psychiatric injury from witnessing death, injury or danger to another person. Broadly, you must have a close tie of love and affection with that person, witness the accident or its immediate aftermath directly, and suffer a recognised psychiatric illness such as PTSD.
There is no separate requirement for a “sudden shock” or for the event to be objectively “horrifying”. However, the psychiatric injury must be caused by witnessing the qualifying event and must have been reasonably foreseeable.
There is no separate requirement for a “sudden shock” or for the event to be objectively “horrifying”. However, the psychiatric injury must be caused by witnessing the qualifying event and must have been reasonably foreseeable.
In 2024, the Supreme Court also confirmed that these claims generaally require an accident: a discrete external event causing, or capable of causing, injury. A relative’s illness, deterioration, collapse or death is not itself an accident simply because earlier medical negligence may have caused or failed to prevent it.
This means that witnessing a relative die or deteriorate because of an earlier negligent diagnosis or treatment will not, on its own, usually support a secondary-victim claim. The position may be different where the negligence itself causes an external accident that you witness.
Separate claims may also arise after a death. A claim belonging to the deceased may survive through their estate, while dependency claims and statutory bereavement awards may be available under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976.
These rules are highly fact-specific, so it is better to have the circumstances assessed individually rather than rely on a general checklist.
Source: Paul and another v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust; Polmear and another v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust; Purchase v Ahmed [2024] UKSC 1, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, judgment given 11 January 2024.
How much are PTSD compensation claims worth?
There is no average and there is no calculator that will tell you honestly. What there is, is a fairly clear set of things that decide it, and it is worth understanding them rather than typing numbers into a tool.
What decides the figure
- How severe the condition is, assessed by an independent psychiatrist rather than by you or by us
- Whether you have responded to treatment, and whether the prognosis is recovery or something permanent
- Whether you can work, and whether you can do the work you did before
- The effect on family life, relationships and the things you used to do
- How long it has already lasted, which on this injury is often years
Two people with the same diagnosis can end up in very different positions. Prognosis does more work here than diagnosis.
How the number is arrived at
In a civil claim there are two parts. General damages cover the condition itself and its effect on your life, and are assessed against published brackets known as the Judicial College Guidelines, which run from less severe through to severe depending largely on prognosis. Special damages cover what it has cost you: therapy, medication, lost earnings, and care or support you have needed.
Two other routes work on published tariffs instead of an individual assessment. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme has a tariff for disabling mental injury, and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme has one covering mental health conditions. Those are set out in the schemes themselves and we will point you to the relevant part rather than guess at where you would fall.
Looking for PIP, ESA or ill-health retirement? This is not that. A compensation claim and a disability benefit are entirely different systems, and we cannot help with benefits. If PTSD is affecting your ability to work or manage day to day, start with GOV.UK for PIP and Employment and Support Allowance, or with your union or pension scheme for ill-health retirement. We would rather say so now than take up your afternoon.
What evidence supports a PTSD claim?
A psychiatric injury claim is built from records and from expert opinion rather than from photographs. Most of what matters already exists somewhere, and requesting it is our job rather than yours.
Never told anyone at the time? Very common, and it does not sink the claim. People carry on, or do not have the words for it, or do not connect it to the event until much later. It makes the case harder to build, not impossible. Be honest about the gaps when you speak to us, including anything in your history you would rather not mention. It is much better addressed at the start than raised against you halfway through.
No Win No Fee PTSD compensation 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 comes out of your compensation. There is a legal cap on that fee in personal injury claims, and it is worth understanding properly: the cap is calculated on your damages for the injury itself and your past financial losses, not on the whole settlement, because future losses are left out of the calculation. Your agreement will set out the exact percentage in writing before you sign.
Ask us to walk you through the figures, including what happens to disbursements and whether any insurance is taken out on your behalf, rather than taking a headline percentage on trust. That applies to any firm you speak to.
PTSD claims: your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
How long do I have to make a PTSD claim?
For a civil claim it is usually three years, but the starting point matters more here than on most injuries. It can run from the date you first realised your condition was significant and connected to what happened, and the NHS is clear that PTSD symptoms can surface many months or even years after the event. Two other routes have their own deadlines: an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority must normally be made within two years of the incident, and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme allows seven years from the earliest of several starting points. Different routes, different clocks. If you think you may be out of time, it is worth asking rather than assuming.
Do I need a diagnosis before I contact a solicitor?
No. A great many people who go on to bring a claim have never been formally diagnosed when they first make contact, either because they have not been to their GP or because nobody has put a name to it. Part of what a claim involves is arranging an independent psychiatric assessment, and that assessment is what establishes the diagnosis for legal purposes. Do see your GP as well, because treatment is worth having in its own right and the records help.
Will making a claim make my mental health worse?
It is the right question to ask and the honest answer is that it can be difficult, so it is worth going in with your eyes open. You will be asked to describe what happened, and you will need to see an independent expert who will ask about it too. What you should not have to do is repeat the story over and over to different people, chase correspondence, or be pressed for detail on a bad week. Tell us at the outset how you want to be contacted and what you would rather not do, and say if it becomes too much. Some people decide the timing is wrong and come back later, and that is a legitimate decision rather than a failure.
Will I have to go to court?
Most claims of this kind are resolved by negotiation rather than at a hearing, usually once the medical evidence is complete and both sides can see the same picture. It is not something anyone can promise, because it depends on whether responsibility is accepted and whether a reasonable offer is made. If a hearing does become necessary, you would be prepared for it properly and told what to expect, and special measures can sometimes be arranged for vulnerable witnesses.
Can I claim for PTSD caused by military service?
Possibly, and there are two separate routes worth knowing about. The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is a no-fault scheme run by Veterans UK, covering injury or illness caused by service, and you do not need a solicitor to apply to it. A civil claim against the Ministry of Defence is different: it requires you to show negligence, and the deadline is shorter. The two can run alongside each other, but you cannot be compensated twice for the same injury and each route has to be told about the other. Which fits your situation depends on the facts and on how long ago it was.
What is the average payout for PTSD in the UK?
There is not a meaningful average, and any site giving you one is averaging cases that have nothing to do with yours. Compensation for a psychiatric injury turns mainly on prognosis, meaning whether an expert thinks you will recover and how long it will take, and nobody knows that at the enquiry stage. On top of that sits whatever the condition has actually cost you in lost earnings, treatment and support, which varies enormously between two people with the same diagnosis. What can often be arranged during a claim is an interim payment towards therapy or lost income, which tends to be the more useful answer.
Find out where you stand
You do not need to write out what happened, and you do not need a diagnosis. A few lines is enough to start with. We will tell you whether there is a claim worth bringing, which route fits, and whether you are likely to still be in time. If we do not think it is worth it, we will say so.
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Check if you can make a claim
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Other claims we handle
Find out whether you have a claim
A lot of people put off asking about this for years, usually because they assume a psychiatric injury is not the sort of thing you claim for, or because they are not sure they would be believed. Both of those are worth testing against an actual answer. The conversation is free, it is confidential, and it commits you to nothing.
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