What this calculator does
This calculator gives you an indicative range for an accident at work claim, built from the same Judicial College Guidelines brackets that courts and insurers use to value injuries. You pick the injury area, pick the severity that fits, and optionally add lost earnings. The tool returns a range.
It is deliberately honest about its limits. A calculator can identify the bracket your injury falls into. It cannot tell you where in that bracket your claim will settle, because that turns on medical evidence that has not been written yet. Treat the figure as orientation, not valuation — and note that everything runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent to us or stored.
Estimate your compensation range
Three steps. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs entirely in your browser.
Choose an injury area and severity to see an indicative range.
This tool covers general damages for the injury, plus lost earnings where you enter them. It does not include medical and rehabilitation costs, care, travel, equipment, pension loss or future loss of earnings — all of which are recoverable and can exceed the injury award in serious cases. Most accident at work claims must be brought within three years.
How the estimate is worked out
Compensation for an accident at work has two parts, and the calculator handles both:
- General damages — compensation for the injury itself: pain, suffering and loss of amenity. This is assessed against the bracket for your injury type and severity. That is the range the calculator returns.
- Special damages — every measurable financial loss caused by the injury: lost earnings, treatment and physiotherapy, rehabilitation, travel, care provided by family, equipment, and pension loss. These are added to the injury award rather than included in it. The calculator estimates lost earnings only, from the weeks off work and pay you enter.
Two further adjustments happen in a real claim and are outside the tool. If you were partly at fault, your award is reduced by the percentage attributed to you — 20% contributory negligence on a £50,000 award means £40,000. And if the injury worsened a pre-existing condition, you recover for the worsening only, not the underlying condition.
The current brackets
These are the Judicial College Guidelines, 18th edition (April 2026) general damages brackets behind the estimate. The Guidelines are guidance rather than a tariff: awards are placed within a bracket, and occasionally outside it, on the evidence.
| Injury area | Severity | General damages |
|---|---|---|
| Back | Minor — full recovery within about three months | Up to £3,240 |
| Minor — recovery over roughly two to five years, no surgery | £10,420 – £16,520 | |
| Moderate | £16,520 – £51,230 | |
| Severe | £51,230 – £212,670 | |
| Neck | Minor — recovery within about two years | Up to £10,420 |
| Moderate — protracted recovery | £10,420 – £18,150 | |
| Head or brain | Minor | £2,920 – £16,870 |
| Less severe | £20,240 – £56,890 | |
| Moderate to severe | £56,890 – £289,420 | |
| Shoulder | Moderate — symptoms beyond about two years | £10,420 – £16,870 |
| Wrist | Less severe — recovery over a longer period | £16,640 – £32,370 |
| Hand | Moderate | £7,520 – £17,540 |
| Less serious | £19,090 – £38,310 | |
| Serious | £38,310 – £81,790 | |
| Total or effective loss of one hand | £127,050 – £144,860 | |
| Finger or thumb | Amputation of a little finger | £11,420 – £16,170 |
| Index finger fracture with impaired grip | £12,040 – £16,170 | |
| Serious injury to a ring or middle finger | £13,630 – £21,590 | |
| Total or partial loss of an index finger | £16,080 – £24,760 | |
| Severe fractures, possibly leading to partial amputation | Up to £48,540 | |
| Loss of a thumb | £46,930 – £72,440 | |
| Ankle or foot | Ankle — modest sprains and ligament damage | Up to £18,150 |
| Foot — minor soft tissue injury | Up to £18,150 | |
| Psychological injury | Moderate | £7,740 – £25,190 |
| Amputation of a leg | Below-knee amputation of one leg | £129,440 – £175,690 |
| Spinal cord injury | Paraplegia | £289,420 – £375,540 |
| Tetraplegia | £428,850 – £533,720 | |
| Complex regional pain syndrome | Severe | £69,360 – £110,990 |
Figures are general damages only — compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Financial losses such as lost earnings, treatment and care are added on top. Source: Judicial College Guidelines, 18th edition (April 2026).
The 18th edition was published in April 2026 and uprated figures by roughly 8.26% against the previous edition. Any table still quoting the 17th edition understates current values — worth checking if you have been comparing figures across sites. Our compensation guide sets out how these brackets combine with special damages to produce a settlement figure.
What the estimate leaves out
The tool covers general damages plus lost earnings. Everything below is also recoverable and is simply not something a form can collect:
- Treatment and rehabilitation — physiotherapy, surgery, pain management, counselling, and private treatment you paid for.
- Care and assistance — practical help from family or paid carers while you recover, valued even when a relative provided it.
- Future loss of earnings — where the injury reduces what you can earn in future, or ends a trade you are trained for. In serious cases this is the largest head of claim.
- Pension loss — employer contributions you would have received had you kept working.
- Travel, equipment and home adaptations — the cost of getting to appointments, mobility aids, and changes to your home or vehicle.
In serious injury claims these items frequently exceed the general damages figure. A range that covers only the injury can therefore look far lower than the claim is actually worth — which is why the serious injury guidance exists separately.
What moves you within a bracket
The bracket narrows to a figure through evidence. The factors that decide where:
- Prognosis. How long symptoms are expected to last is the single biggest variable, and it comes from an independent medical expert rather than from you or your employer.
- Treatment and surgery. An operation, a prolonged recovery, or a permanent residual problem moves a claim up within its bracket.
- Effect on work. The same injury is valued differently for a joiner and an office worker, because loss of amenity is assessed against what you actually do.
- Psychological consequences. A diagnosable condition such as PTSD, depression or anxiety is valued under its own chapter and added to the physical injury award.
- Pre-existing conditions. You recover for the worsening, not the underlying condition — but a condition that made you more vulnerable does not reduce your claim.
Why no calculator can value your claim
Because valuation is an evidential exercise, not a lookup. The bracket tells you the range; the medical report and the schedule of losses tell you where you sit in it. That is why we publish this tool with its limits stated rather than hiding them behind a single confident number.
If your injury is not listed, or your symptoms have not settled, the brackets above will understate or miss your claim entirely. A free assessment gets you a realistic figure based on your own circumstances, with no obligation to proceed.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is an accident at work claim calculator?
It is accurate as a starting range and unreliable as a valuation. The brackets it uses are the same Judicial College Guidelines the courts and insurers apply, so the range is realistic for the injury type. What it cannot know is your medical prognosis, the evidence in your case, or the full extent of your financial losses — the three things that decide where in the bracket a claim actually settles.
What is the average accident at work compensation payout in the UK?
There is no meaningful national average, because awards range from a few hundred pounds to over £500,000 depending on severity. What exists instead are bracket ranges per injury type: as examples from the Judicial College Guidelines (18th edition, April 2026), a minor back injury recovering within about three months is valued at up to £3,240, a moderate back injury at £16,520 to £51,230, and the most severe brain injuries at up to £289,420.
Does the calculator include lost earnings?
Only if you enter them. Lost pay is special damages and is claimed separately from general damages for the injury itself. The estimator adds an estimate based on your weeks off work and gross weekly pay, but a real claim can also recover overtime, bonuses, pension contributions, and future loss of earnings if your career is affected.
Why is my figure a range rather than one number?
Because that is how compensation is assessed. The Judicial College Guidelines set a bracket for each injury category, and the court or insurer places your claim within it based on prognosis, treatment, residual symptoms and the effect on your work and daily life. Quoting a single figure would be inventing precision that does not exist.
Will claiming affect my job?
No. Your employer must hold employers' liability insurance precisely so that claims can be met, and it is unlawful to dismiss or victimise you for making a genuine claim. If you are treated unfairly because you claimed, that is a separate matter your solicitor can advise on.
Is there a time limit for an accident at work claim?
Yes — generally three years from the date of the accident, or from the date you knew the injury was connected to your work. There are exceptions for children, for people without capacity, and in some industrial disease cases. Because the medical evidence takes time to assemble, claims should be started well before the limit expires.