Help serious accident at work!!

tinkerbelle414

Help serious accident at work
Hi,
I am hoping I can maybe get some help here.
My husband (age 38) had a serious accident at work 4 weeks ago, his injuries include fractured spine smashed pelvis, but to name a few. He has been very ill and at one point we were told he wasnt going to pull through. He is still here and fighting this with all his might. he has been told he will be in a wheelchair for a while them crutches and will be around 18 months before he will be as mobile as possible for him.
We have no payment protection on the mortgage but have a scottish widows critical illness cover.
Obviously I have been putting all my time and energy into my husbands recovery and havent started to look at finances yet. I know he only gets 15 weeks full pay and the same on half pay then he would have to go on to incapacity benefit. This is very worrying as i know his work has been neglegent and there will be compensation paid out but i have been told this maybe 2 or 3 years down the line. That is all good and well but will we lose the house in the meantime or what will happen. My head is all over the place and need a bit of guidance as to where to go from here.

thank you in advance for any help you may have to offer.

somebody_else

First of all you need to ensure that the HSE have been informed of this accident. By law they should be informed of any workplace accident that involves a person being off sick for more than 3 days, or (from a quick check of the regulations) any serious injury that results in a person being taken to hospital straight from the site of the accident.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/guidance.htm#what

I would also start a claim on the critical illness cover asap. If your husband will get full pay for the next 11 weeks, that will give you some breathing space, but it might be a good idea to contact your mortgage provider to warn them of your current circumstances and that there might be problems in the near future.

It might be worth your while going to your nearest CAB and speaking to one of their advisors - if you've got an organisation of that size behind you, it's amazing how helpful folks can get.

This is obviously a horrendous time for you and your husband, all I can say is I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Hopefully, someone with some experience in this kind of thing will be along later who can give more specific advice.

LameWolf

Hi Tinkerbelle

I'm so sorry to learn of your husband's accident.

Is he in a Union? If he is, enlist their help - I did this when my first husband had an industrial accident, and they were very good, sorted out a solicitor for us and everything.

Otherwise, as Somebody_Else has said, the CAB would be a good idea.

Good luck, and my best wishes to you both.

clairec79

Don't forget DLA although it's going to take 3 months for him to qualify (but should mean that when his pay starts dropping at least that should kick in)

You may then be entitled to the disabled element on tax credits (if you are employed but on the sick you may still count as working for tax credits purposes, you do for maternity leave)

perfumelady

oh god i hope he starts to recover from this soon. x

i had a serious accident at work, and the key to my case was having witnesses, i went to a solicitor who deals in these types of cases and i chose the no win no fee route, all my loss of earnings and every expense you could think of were claimed back plus compensation so if you feel the company is at fault then def' go for a claim, after my accident and claim i still worked for the same company.

you could always go to your local citizens advice who offer a half an hour free slot with a solicitor

calleyw

Also don't forget that if you go down the compensation route for loss of wages and are claiming IB. The IB will be clawed back by the DWP's.

I wish you husband a speedy recover.

it is hard my husband had stroke and was doing agency work. So 2 weeks before the stroke we had only had my income. Scarey I know. But you will get through.

Take care.

Yours

Calley

McKneff

Is it possible to apply for an interim payment from the compensation

calleyw

anniehanlon wrote: »

Is it possible to apply for an interim payment from the compensation

As I have never been involved with such a case. I am not sure they would. The reason they hang it out is so that you get a well as you can so they have less to pay out.

And then if it was a lot of money e.g hundreds of thousands they often want to put in trusts so you don't get it one lump sum.

But it does not hurt to ask.


Yours


Calley

Horace

I dont see why you can't ask for an interim payment whilst the fight for compensation continues. I asked for one when I had my car accident back in 1995 and received a thousand pounds, I was eventually awarded an additional £7500. I used a no win no fee lawyer and I got to keep all my compensation.

There is a good lawyer out there who specialises in personal injury and in particular disabilities and that is a company called Russell Jones & Walker (you see them advertising on the tv as Claims Direct). I wanted to use this company when I was taking my ex employer to a tribunal for disability discrimination - trouble was they were linked to my union and wouldn't accept a private case:rolleyes:

Hope this helps and sorry to hear about your hubby, I hope he recovers.

McKneff

Tinerbelle, i would go with the interim payment request. Dont ask, dont get.
it would be one less thing to worry about and cant do any harm.
keep us posted on yours and your OH'S progress and good luck