These are the harder questions: partial fault, agency work, insolvent employers, costs protection and employment status. Each answer is for England and Wales and is general information, not advice on your case.
If I was injured while not wearing PPE, will contributory negligence cut my compensation?
Not wearing PPE can reduce your damages under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, section 1, but the reduction depends heavily on whether your employer supplied, trained you in and enforced use of the PPE. If PPE was never provided there is no realistic contributory case.
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 put the duty on the employer to provide suitable PPE (regulation 4), maintain it (regulation 7) and give instruction (regulation 9), while regulation 10 requires employees to use it in accordance with their training.
If PPE was provided and you chose not to wear it, courts have reduced awards, in some cases substantially (Bux v Slough Metals [1973] 1 WLR 1358 produced a 40% deduction). They also recognise that employers must enforce rules, not just issue equipment, and that workers' inadvertence is judged leniently (Caswell v Powell Duffryn [1940] AC 152). There is no fixed tariff.
What to do: Keep proof of what was issued, when, and what training you were given.
I was placed by an agency. Can I claim against the host company, the agency or both?
You can often claim against both. The host that controls your work usually owes you the same duty of care as to its own staff, and the agency may also be liable, so a court can find dual responsibility.
Courts accept that an agency worker can have two employers for vicarious-liability purposes where the host integrates the worker into its business and controls the work (Viasystems (Tyneside) Ltd v Thermal Transfer Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 1151; Hawley v Luminar Leisure [2006] EWCA Civ 18).
The non-delegable duty to provide a safe system of work (McDermid v Nash Dredging [1987] AC 906) cannot be avoided by contracting through an agency. In practice your solicitor identifies which entity's employers' liability insurer responds and may notify both.
What to do: Keep your assignment details, timesheets and any induction records. They show who controlled the task.
My employer went into administration or was dissolved while my claim was running. Is my claim lost?
No. Your claim is typically paid by the employer's insurer, and the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 lets you claim directly against that insurer when the employer is insolvent.
In administration, a moratorium stops legal proceedings against the company without the administrator's consent or the court's permission (Insolvency Act 1986, Schedule B1, paragraph 43). A claim against the insurer under the 2010 Act (in force since 1 August 2016) is not blocked by that moratorium.
If the company has been dissolved, it can be restored to the register to allow a claim (Companies Act 2006, sections 1029 and 1030), and personal injury claims can be pursued despite the usual six-year bar on restoration applications. If you cannot identify the insurer, the Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) database holds employers' liability policy records for compulsory cover since 1972.
What to do: Give your solicitor the employer's full registered name and your employment dates. Do not assume the claim is worthless.
How could I lose QOCS protection, and what is my real financial exposure?
QOCS protection can be lost if a claim is struck out, found fundamentally dishonest, or brought for someone else's benefit. Outside those cases, any costs order against you is capped at the damages you receive.
Under CPR 44.14 a costs order is enforceable only up to the amount of damages and interest awarded. CPR 44.15 permits enforcement, with permission, where the claim is struck out as disclosing no reasonable grounds or as an abuse of process. CPR 44.16 permits enforcement where the claim is found to be fundamentally dishonest, and the court can dismiss the entire claim under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (Summers v Fairclough Homes [2012] UKSC 26 confirms the court's strike-out power).
If you reject a defendant's Part 36 offer and fail to beat it, costs consequences follow, but enforcement stays limited by rule 44.14. QOCS applies in England and Wales only.
What to do: Give your solicitor full and accurate details of prior claims, injuries and work history.
My employer's insurance details are missing or the firm no longer exists. How do I find the insurer?
Search the Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) database. Employers must hold at least £5 million of employers' liability insurance, and policies from 1972 should be traceable.
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 and the 1998 Regulations require cover and display of the certificate. Where the insurer is unknown, your solicitor can search ELTO, ask the employer for insurer details under the pre-action protocol, and ask the Health and Safety Executive for help if needed.
Where no insurance exists and the employer is solvent, the claim proceeds against the employer directly.
What to do: Keep payslips, contracts and P60s. They identify the employer entity and your dates of employment.
I'm classed as self-employed. Does that stop me claiming against the company I worked for?
Not necessarily. Courts look at the reality of the working relationship rather than the label, and a self-employed worker may also claim against the site occupier or principal contractor.
Employment status is decided on the real terms of the relationship (Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41), including control, personal service and integration. If you are in law an employee or worker, the company's employers' liability insurance applies.
If you are genuinely self-employed, claims proceed in negligence or under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 against the site occupier or principal contractor, and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are relevant on construction sites.
What to do: Keep contracts, invoices, and records of who supplied tools and who directed the work.
My back was already degenerative before the accident. Can I still recover, and how much?
Yes. You can recover for the extra harm the accident caused, or for the years by which it accelerated a condition that would have appeared anyway.
The eggshell skull principle means a defendant takes the claimant as found (Smith v Leech Brain [1962] 2 QB 405). Where a pre-existing condition would have caused symptoms later anyway, medical experts give an acceleration period and damages reflect only that period. Where the accident made a dormant condition permanently symptomatic, recovery is higher. A separate supervening illness may limit later losses (Jobling v Associated Dairies [1982] AC 794).
A good medical report distinguishing aggravation from acceleration is the key evidence.
What to do: Disclose all prior back history to your solicitor and to the medical expert.
My condition built up over years of repetitive work. When does the three-year clock start?
The clock normally starts on your date of knowledge, meaning when you knew the injury was significant and attributable to work, not when symptoms began (Limitation Act 1980, section 14).
Date of knowledge covers knowledge that the injury was significant, that it was attributable to the act or omission alleged to be negligent, and the identity of the defendant. In cumulative cases such as hand-arm vibration, repetitive strain, noise-induced hearing loss and some respiratory conditions, that date is often much later than the first symptoms (Haward v Fawcetts [2006] UKHL 9).
Even after the limit has passed, the court has a discretion under section 33. Employer duties derive from the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (regulation 3), the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 and, for vibration, the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005.
What to do: Note when a doctor first linked your symptoms to your work. That conversation is often the key date.
Can my employer dismiss or discipline me for making a claim?
No. Dismissal for raising health and safety concerns is automatically unfair under the Employment Rights Act 1996, section 100, with no qualifying service period. Detriment is separately unlawful under section 44.
A personal injury claim is brought against the insurer, but your employer is notified. If you are dismissed or penalised, a tribunal claim is separate from your injury claim and has a short deadline: three months less one day, or six months less one day where the time limit starts on or after 1 October 2026, with Acas early conciliation first. If your injury amounts to a disability, the Equality Act 2010 may add protection.
Not every dismissal is linked to a claim (for example, a genuine capability dismissal after long absence), so the facts matter and whether section 100 applies to a particular dismissal depends on them.
What to do: Keep every email or message after the claim and take employment advice promptly.
I was assaulted at work by a colleague or a member of the public. Can I claim from my employer?
Sometimes. An employer can be liable for a colleague's assault if it is closely connected with their job, and for an attack by the public if the risk was foreseeable and not properly managed. You may also have a separate criminal injuries claim.
For a colleague's wrongful act, the question is whether there is a sufficiently close connection between what the colleague was employed to do and the assault, so that it is fair to hold the employer vicariously liable (Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc [2016] UKSC 11).
For an attack by a customer or member of the public, the claim is in negligence: did the employer assess the foreseeable risk of violence (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3) and provide training, staffing and security proportionate to it? The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority scheme is a separate route, normally with a two-year deadline from the incident.
What to do: Report the assault to the police and your employer in writing, and keep records of any earlier incidents or complaints.
For the basics, see accident at work claims and the claims process.
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