While your solicitor will work with you to gather evidence, it helps if you can provide as much evidence as you have that could be supportive of your claim before the process starts. This may include your contract of employment, payslips, and contact details of any witnesses to your accident. We will use any evidence you can provide to determine whether you have a valid claim and how much compensation we believe you are entitled to.

JMW will work with you to gather medical evidence addressing your injuries to make sure the full extent of the injury and the impact it has had on your life is known when we seek compensation on your behalf.

We will also calculate the financial losses you have sustained, so it helps if you can keep receipts for any expenses you incur for medication, travel expenses and medical care, including after you return to the UK.

JMW will work with you and examine the legal issues surrounding your case to advise you where your claim can be made. In many cases, you will be able to make a claim in the Courts of England and Wales. In other cases, it may be that you need to make the claim before the foreign courts. We have contacts with a worldwide network of lawyers whom we can rely on to ensure you get access to the justice you deserve.

Accident abroad compensation depends on several factors that are specific to each case, including the type of injuries you sustained, who was responsible, and even which foreign jurisdiction the accident occurred in. Whichever country your accident happened in, our solicitors will work to secure the maximum compensation for you.

Compensation payments comprise two elements: special damages and general damages. Each addresses a distinct type of loss resulting from the injury. General damages compensate for non-financial losses, including the physical and emotional impact of the injury on your life. Our solicitors will consider your physical pain, suffering, emotional distress and loss of amenity in your compensation claim, and base our estimate of how much compensation you are owed on the Judicial College Guidelines. These provide standardised brackets for different types of injury, based on the severity and impact of any long-term symptoms, chronic pain, disfigurement or psychological trauma caused by the incident or its aftermath.

Special damages compensate for financial losses and expenses that you have incurred (or are likely to incur in the future) as a direct result of the injury. Outgoings that you can claim compensation for as special damages include:

• Loss of earnings if you were unable to work, or will be unable to work in the future.
• Medical expenses for physiotherapy, private treatment, or prescriptions.
• Costs of travel to and from medical appointments.
• Care and assistance, including paid care or informal care by family or friends.
• Rehabilitation costs and any specialist equipment, home adaptations, or mobility aids this requires.
• The anticipated future financial impact, including lost career prospects or ongoing treatment needs.

To do this, you must provide detailed evidence of these expenses, including receipts, invoices, wage slips, tax records, and cost projections prepared by experts, if you are claiming for future losses.

Our solicitors will also seek interim payments where possible, to cover any urgent financial needs or medical bills. This means you will receive a portion of your compensation early, before the claims process is fully resolved.

At JMW, we are normally able to conduct personal injury claims on a no win, no fee basis under a conditional fee agreement. A no win, no fee claim means that there are no legal fees to pay unless your claim is successful, so you can take action after an accident without financial risk. This covers everything from initial evidence gathering to court proceedings, where necessary.

When your claim is successful, you will pay a contribution towards your legal costs in the form of a success fee, which is a pre-agreed percentage of part of the compensation you are awarded. Whether a conditional fee agreement is possible will depend on the type of claim you are making, but there may be other ways to pay for legal services if you believe you are entitled to claim compensation in these cases.

It is often possible to make a holiday injury claim if you were injured abroad. When you have experienced a holiday accident, compensation claims depend on whether your trip was a package holiday offered by a UK-based travel agent or provider. Contact our holiday accident claims team to learn more about your eligibility in these cases.