Burn Injury Claim Payouts Calculator: Face, Body And Causing Death
In this article we explain what a burn injury claim is; the two main types of compensation that you can claim; the skin and body parts which can be injured; the four degrees of burn to the skin you can experience; examples of how much compensation you can claim for facial burn injury, bodily burn injury, scarring, psychological injury and pain before death.
- Burn Injury Claim Payouts Calculator: Face, Body And Causing Death
- Tables of Payouts For Burn Injury Claims In 2023
- What is a burn injury claim?
- How much compensation can you claim for a burn injury claim?
Tables of Payouts For Burn Injury Claims In 2023
Our article starts with a set of brief tables of compensation payouts for burn injury claims to the face, body and burn injuries leading to death.
Remember – dive deeper into our article to find fuller details of how these compensation amounts are calculated.
Legal tip – as part of the same burn injury claim you can claim compensation for financial loss and expense in addition to compensation for pain and suffering.
Burns To Face Payouts In 2023
| Facial Burn Injury | Claim Payout |
|---|---|
| Minor / Moderate Trivial Scarring | £1,700 – £14,00 |
| Serious Significant scarring Psychological reaction | £9,000 – £49,000 |
| Severe Young person Significant scarring Adverse psychological reaction | £30,000 – £97,500 |
Burns To Body Payouts In 2023
| Bodily Burn Injury | Claim Payouts |
|---|---|
| Minor / Moderate One noticeable scar, or Multiples less noticeable scars | £2.400 – £7,900 |
| Serious Disfiguring scar/s | £7,900 – £23,000 |
| Severe Surgery Large body area Physical disability Psychological | £23,000 – £105,000 |
Fatal Burn Injury Payouts In 2023
| Fatal Burn Injury | Claim Payout |
|---|---|
| Pain before death up to 3 months | £1,400 – £24,00 |
| Deceased’s family claim | See fatal accident payouts |
What is a burn injury claim?
If you suffer a burn injury in an accident as a result of the negligence or fault of another person, business, employer, defective product, council or government body – you will likely be able to make a “burn injury claim” for personal injury compensation.
Watch out – if your suffer your burn injury as a result of a wilful or deliberate act of another individual, this might be classed as a criminal injury claim. Criminal injury claims have a different basis of assessment than those set out in this article (fixed amounts for different types of injury – known as a tariff scheme – as set out on the CICA website.
What are the types of compensation can you claim for burn injuries?
A burn injury claim has primarily two parts:
Pain and Suffering Compensation
Your actual injury will include pain and suffering in experiencing the burn injury and any other effects from the burn, such as scarring, deep tissue bodily injury, psychological reaction and in the worst cases even death.
You are entitled to claim compensation for this pain and suffering, which is known as general damages.
Financial Loss and Expense Compensation
As a result of your accident you will likely suffer financial losses, such as lost income for the period you are unable to work and incur expenses, such as medical expenses, travel expenses to the hospital and GP, nursing expenses, etc.
These losses are known as special damages – they are unique (special) to you and are added to the general damages to give the overall amount of compensation your burn injury claim is worth.
What are the body parts which can be injured by a burn?
Physical and psychological injury
A burn injury claim involves damage to the body – both physically and often psychologically.
Skin damage
Typically, the first body part to be damaged is the protective outer membrane, which we know as the skin.
Did you know – skin is technically the largest organ in your body.
Epidermis and dermis / corium
Your skin is made up of primarily two layers known as the epidermis and the dermis (or corium).
The epidermis is the thinner outer layer. Its top most layer is not living and requires no blood supply, but is essential to protect the body from bacteria and micro-organisms as well as abrasion. The outer layer of the skin is constantly being shed and renewed.
Nerves – sense of touch and hot / cold detection
The lower layer of skin is known as the dermis and is thicker than the epidermis. It contains your skin’s nerves and blood cells and allows you to have vital sensations, such as the sense of touch, hot and cold detection. It is also the point from your sweat glands originate allowing the body to cool and excrete harmful substances.
Tissue layer below skin
Below the skin, is a tissue layer used to protect the body from vibration and insulate you from the hot and cold.
Muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones
Below this protective layer lie the muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, organs, etc.
What are the types of burn that you might experience?
There are four medical classifications of burn and each comes with different types of symptoms:
First-degree burn
A first-degree burn is a superficial burn – affecting the top skin layers only. This type of burn injury causes initial pain and your skin to go red, but these symptoms last only a number of days.
Second-degree burn
A second-degree burn affects the top skin layer (epidermis) and part of your skins lower layer (dermis) and as such is known as a partial thickness burn. This type of burn can lead to blisters and scarring – taking several months for the pain to resolve.
Third-degree burn
A third-degree burn is known as a full thickness burn – as it affects all the layers of the skin right through its full thickness. It will often be associated with no pain as the nerve receptors are damaged. Medical intervention (such as skin grafts) is necessary to assist in recovery
Fourth-degree burn
A fourth-degree burn is the most serious of all – this burn will extend beyond the skin and can damage irreparably the muscle, bone, ligaments and tendons. The burn will often show as black and may lead to removal of the damages body part.
What factors affect the amount of compensation you can claim?
The amount of compensation will depend on:
Severity of burn
The severity of the burn itself is clearly significant. Some very severe burns may require surgery and skin grafts to help mitigate..
Where the burn is on your body
Where on your body the burn has occurred is an important factor.
For example – scarring to your face will attract higher compensation payouts than the equivalent burn on less visible body parts.
Scarring
The amount of scarring remains – clearly the larger the scarring and the more unsightly the more compensation your burn injury claim will be worth.
Internal body parts
The internal bodily parts that may have been affected by your burn – this could even extend to organs and bones.
Psychological reaction
How significant your psychological reaction might be.
Remember – different people can be affected very differently for the same type of burn.
Age
Sometimes even your age can have a bearing.
A younger person has to longer to live with the affects of scarring and finding a partner might be more difficult with unsightly scarring.
How much compensation can you claim for a burn injury claim?
The amount of compensation you can claim for pain and suffering caused by a burn injury, for claims settling in 2023, include:
FACIAL BURN INJURY CLAIMS
Burn to the face leading to less visible scarring
If your burn has left only trivial scarring or more visible scars which can be concealed and not overly affect your appearance, your compensation payout would be calculated between £1,700 – £14,000.
Facial burn injuries causing significant scarring
Your facial burn injury might require plastic surgery and could lead to a significant visible cosmetic disability with a resultant severe psychological reaction. Your burn injury claim settlement could be worth between £9,000 – £49,000.
Severe scarring to a young person
If you are under 30 years of age and have severe scarring with a strong psychological reaction and you are aged under 30 years of age – the amount of compensation your burn injury claim can be worth will range between £30,000 – £97,500.
BODILY BURN INJURY CLAIM
Minor scarring to your legs, arms or hands
If your scarring affects either your legs, arms or hands and is either one noticeable scar or several less noticeable scars then your compensation settlement is likely to be calculated between £2,400 – £7,900.
Multiple visible scars on chest, back, legs, arms and hands
Multiple visible scarring or a single disfiguring scar to your chest, back, arms, legs and hands will lead to compensation payouts of between £7,900 – £23,000.
Severe disfiguring burn injury claims
These types of burn might need surgery, have a large percentage of the body area affected, have strong psychological reactions, cause physical disability. Burn injury claim settlements will be calculated between £23,000 – £105,000.
BURN INJURIES CAUSING DEATH
There are two types of claim that can be made when someone dies as a result of a burn injury.
The deceased’s pain and suffering before death
One of the claims is made on behalf of the estate for the pain and suffering of the deceased for the period prior to death.
The amounts of compensation for the pain and suffering of the deceased prior to death, will depend on how long the individual survived before death, whether they were conscious and the extent of the pain and suffering.
The smallest award will be made for immediate unconsciousness followed by death within a week and the largest for the individual being aware of what has happened, significant physical injury and lung damage, intrusive medical procedures and death within 3 month.
The amount of compensation awarded would be range between £1,400 – £24,000.
Claims by relatives of the deceased
The other is the claim made under the Fatal Accidents Act by certain relatives of the deceased.
See our fatal accident claim article explaining the claims that can be made by relatives of the deceased
Free Legal Help / Specialist Solicitor
Should you wish to discuss your accident with a specialist lawyer direct, have your burn injury claim assessed or ask an online question see our specialist solicitor online / telephone free help options.
