Personal Injury compensation and benefits

gemma1979

Hi

I was involved in a RTA where some fool ran a red light and smashed into me writing my car off and nearly killing me and my family in the process i put in a claim with the insurance company who paid out for the car he admitted liability etc and got done I am just considering whether it is worth claiming personal injury for the injuries i sustained (broken ribs etc) my partner has just put a claim in for esa (not relating to the accident - but because he has schizophrenia) and we are waiting to hear other than that i get child tax for 3 children he gets dla (for the schizophrenia not accident related injuries) and child benefit

However i am wondering if it is worth my while because i heard that if you get benefits the dwp takes some or all of any compensation you get does anyone know exactly what happens how the benefits/compensation is affected so i can work out whether it is worth me claiming or not

Thanks

McKneff

Its still worth pursuing a claim from the insurance if you were injured in the accident, even if the dwp does take your ESA payments back you will be repaying the state instead of leaving the money in the insurance companies coffers. If you see what I mean.
Thats what people ( you and the person who caused the accident pay insurance for)
Only my opinion but Im sure you would be left with some of the compensation for your injuries. As you shuold be in my opinion.

Friend of mine at work had whiplash, now i have never seen this before and always sort of dissed it off till I saw her with it, she was
in absolute agony for 3 weeks and only gradually got better over the next 3 weeks.

None of this was your fault, so go for it.

Mr_Falling_Star

The information you need is here

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/other-specialists/compensation-recovery-unit/forms-and-guidance/

The CRU unit keep a low profile so there won't be much out there. I f you have a free legal helpline through a union or a insurance company I would ring them and get their take on it. I am going back a fair few years now but I remember the CRU team being a bit feeble at their job but that mauy have changed.

Robbie64

The only benefits recoverable are benefits which were paid as a result of the accident with a cut off point of benefits paid in the first 5 years or the date the compensation claim is settled, whichever is the soonest.

gemma1979

Yes i see what you mean i was fully comp and paid extortionate premiums lol.

Do they still take esa out of it even if the esa is not related to any accident injuries and what affects does it have on other benefits such as ctc / hb or whatever

im sure i read somewhere that there are thresholds if the compensation is below so much it doesnt affect but if its over so much they take it into account as income etc

also im sure i read theres a difference between the expenses part of the compensation and the personal injury element when i say expenses i mean things like the excess care and assistance travel costs loss of earnings if applicable etc etc

i just cant find anywhere to find out exactly what the score is

Robbie64

CTC / HB are not recoverable. If ESA is not paid because of your injuries then it is not recoverable.

You'd need to speak to a solicitor about different parts of the compensation payment and how benefits affect that part.

gemma1979

Hi

I just read the links above and got some of an idea i still dont understand it fully but i think it means they have to be paid because of the accident not some other reason Im sure though that if its over something like £6000 it gets took into account as income/capital and thus benefit payments reduced accordingly i will have to ring citizens advice or a solicitor i doubt id get over £6000 anyway but you never know i dont really know what the going rate is for broken ribs and whiplash neck and back i also had major headaches for weeks it was a 40 mph smash both airbags deployed cars wrote off so it wasnt a minor knock i think it affected me more mentally as im nervous now when approaching junctions traffic lighted or not i remember just before it hit that split second when i saw it flying at me out of the blue at high speed and it all went black i didnt think i would wake up when i opened my eyes after i just thought am i in pain i know i had broken rib and that but i was expecting worse like broken / removed limb so i just felt relief that i was alive and wasnt worse my partner was carted out on a stretcher they thought hed broke his neck initially he had to have xrays and ct scans and had facial injuries whiplash and his shoulder bone popped out over his collar bone was disgusting i had my 3 children in the back aged 3 4 and 9 luckily and remarkably unscathed not a mark on them i cant believe people like that are on the roads makes my blood boil

[Deleted User]

You might be pleasantly surprised at the amount of compo your injuries might attract,however you will be disappointed at how long the process can be,my dds dragged on for 2 years.
If your compo takes your savings over £6000 you lose £1 for every £250 upto £16,000 at which point means tested benefits would stop.
If the benefits you claim are unrelated to the accident then no re-payment will be requested.

gemma1979

Well the benefits I claim in my name are CTC and child benefit my partner has put a claim in last week for esa and i think he is claiming an allowance for me as part of it as his partner but for me and him it is not through the car accident injuries he is claiming it on account of being schizophrenic which he is before and after the accident so would of been claiming it anyway and the HB/CTB is in joint names and again if paid would be from claiming esa so would of been claimed regardless for the same reason as that

sp1987

The long and the short of it is the money is reclaimed to prevent someone being compensated twice for the same injury.

If I am hit by a car and break my leg, I would first off look at claiming from the insurers. That takes a while to go through (months, years in many cases) so in the interim I may be off work so I might need to claim ESA as a result of my broken leg. The crux of the matter is, if I later recover from the other side, I am being paid compensation for my not being able to work by the other side most probably. I will also be being compensated for my inability to work by ESA. This means I would have had two sets of money, so need to pay the ESA back their money. My best example is a lady I know suffered in a case of medical negligence when giving birth in hospital. She was unable to work (as a nurse) so had to claim benefits. Years later (about 3 or 4 at a guess?) she got tens of thousands in compensation from the negligent hospital and so had to repay her benefits, or she would have essentially be being paid twice.

Your partner has something totally independant of a car accident and so he would not be being compensated twice and so could keep it on that point (unless I'm awfully mistaken!). I guess the only problem is how much would be awarded and thus if it would affect any capital amounts.

Hopefully this is a bit helpful!

Certainly look into claiming if you have as you say, suffered physically as a result of the accident. The fact you had broken bones and not just whiplash, which is difficult to prove or disprove severity-wise often (some people in agony, some people making a claim over nothing, not easy to tell which!). Broken bones are a more quantifiable thing I'd imagine!