In a claim for personal injury and loss you can claim General Damages for pain suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA). This covers compensation for your injuries sustained in the accident or the illness developed due to exposure at work etc. In addition to General Damages you can claim Special Damages. Special Damages can include things like loss of earnings (say because of the injury sustained you were not able to work for 1 month), damage to property (say you tripped over a raised slab and as a result you ripped your clothing). You can also claim for care and assistance, this is another head of loss which comes under Special Damages.
Care and assistance covers all the things that you were not able to do as a result of your injuries. Say you tripped and broke your arm; you may need help from you partner, daughter, son etc in getting dressed. You may also need help with household chores such as ironing, cooking, cleaning, preparing meals etc. You may need help with gardening or cleaning the car. Care and assistance covers things that you did before the accident that you are not able to do following the accident due to your injuries. Family members and friends will of course provide you with the care, such as helping you to get ready, free of charge. However you are entitled to recover Special Damages from the Defendant. It is settled law that the Claimant (the person bringing the claim) is entitled to recover damages in respect of the fair and reasonable value of such care and domestic assistance.
Unsurprisingly the area of dispute often concerns the number of hours care and assistance claimed and the hourly rates claimed. In terms of the hourly rate case law approved a standard calculation of taking a commercial pay rate and applying a discount to reflect that the care was not provided by a trained carer who may be more efficient. A discount was also justified by the fact that care is not provided for profit and that no income tax or National Insurance contributions would be made on the sum awarded. The rate of discount has varied in different cases but generally the discount is 25%. The Courts have taken a flexible approach in dealing with care and assistance claims. The discount applied is at the discretion of the Court.
This can be illustrated by the case of Newman v Folkes [2002] in which the Judge made no discount to the commercial rates of care where care was being provided by a wife to her husband (the Claimant) who was particularly violent and difficult. This case shows that in terms of pay rates and deductions, the Court has discretion.
In terms of how a care and assistance claim will work for you, say you have help from your partner following an accident. The help could be with personal hygiene such as bathing or washing, the help could be with household chores such as cleaning and cooking. In these cases a husband would not pay his wife (and vice versa) for the care and assistance provided but you can recover compensation for care and assistance.
You can usually claim a rate of between £6.00 and £8.00 per hour, as a rough guide.
So if your partner helps you for say four hours a day for 2 weeks then this is potentially £336.00 (based on £6.00 per hour) and £448.00 (based on £8.00 per hour). You can make a claim for care and assistance as long as the medical evidence supports it.
