Two compensation claims...can I be done ?

Kiki7976

Hi everyone ...

I post before about being involved in a compensation claim on contributions  based esa and is it allowed to do etc (I was involved and a car as a passenger accident not my fault). I am happy that im ok to do so after everyone's advise BUT sadly I broke my wrist coming off a ramp with my wheelchair on holiday (3 weeks ago).  The marking on the ramp were not clear and the ramp clipped my chair causing us both to fall. 
I contacted the holiday company after I returned after they send an email to ask if the holiday went well etc. I lost 3 days of holiday in pain because of what happened?I called them and explained this then they forwarded my call to a legal team.  Now it seems im in another claim situation for the days I lost on holiday?
My question is can two claims run simultaneously for two different incidents? The car accident happened 3 years ago and tying up now. The injuries are completely different. I never seen any of this coming and im confused now. 

Many thanks for reading 😊

marcia_

Kiki7976 said:

Hi everyone ...

I post before about being involved in a compensation claim on contributions  based esa and is it allowed to do etc (I was involved and a car as a passenger accident not my fault). I am happy that im ok to do so after everyone's advise BUT sadly I broke my wrist coming off a ramp with my wheelchair on holiday (3 weeks ago).  The marking on the ramp were not clear and the ramp clipped my chair causing us both to fall. 
I contacted the holiday company after I returned after they send an email to ask if the holiday went well etc. I lost 3 days of holiday in pain because of what happened?I called them and explained this then they forwarded my call to a legal team.  Now it seems im in another claim situation for the days I lost on holiday?
My question is can two claims run simultaneously for two different incidents? The car accident happened 3 years ago and tying up now. The injuries are completely different. I never seen any of this coming and im confused now. 

Many thanks for reading 😊

 You are right compensation doesn't effect contributions based ESA.

 No reason why you can't have two claims for different events. 

Kiki7976

Thanks for your reply. Ive not meant for any of this to happen. Im just so scared of stuff like this.

MyRealNameToo

From a claim perspective you can have as many claims happening concurrently as you have injuries. The complexity somewhat comes were you to have broken your arm in the car crash and then further damaged the same arm in the ramp issue. Doesnt make it "wrong" or anything, just complex to separate what was due to the first incident and what was caused by the second incident. 

Can't help materially on the benefits side but sounds like you are claiming for something that isnt means tested so wouldnt be an issue. Clearly the ramp accident was relatively minor, you dont say how big a problem the car accident caused. In principle you can get a Personal Injury Trust set up to hold the funds in if you do want to separate them from your own money for future means tested benefits.

Personally find it a bit odd though that we pay a claimant £500,000 for an injury including loss of earnings and future care but the claimant can put that into a trust so they can still claim means tested benefits and qualify for state care etc. 

Muttleythefrog

MyRealNameToo said:

Personally find it a bit odd though that we pay a claimant £500,000 for an injury including loss of earnings and future care but the claimant can put that into a trust so they can still claim means tested benefits and qualify for state care etc. 

Surely the idea is that people are not put off from claiming against wrongs.. if someone is going to be punished (we'll take away your income and force you into new claims with reassessments in future once your money is spent) for a successful claim that will likely bring with it its own stresses and difficulties then it is deterrent. Much compensation might also be used to address directly or indirectly the consequences of malpractice or failings of others and this would be problematic with benefits as you'd be having to face the nightmare of repeated reporting of spending and justifying it if encountering query for deprivation of capital which is highly subjective so you can never be sure what would be considered unreasonable spending... is someone who thanks to GP incompetence facing a terminal diagnosis of a couple of years spending £10,000 on a holiday spending capital appropriately.... one may argue yes given it may be the last holiday they ever have.. but they could go to Butlins for far less.

In this case though likely irrelevant as CBased ESA is indeed not means tested so a suitable trust may not be a consideration. However as the government plan to merge this benefit with JSA equivalent and time limit it... then it may become a consideration!

Agree with advice given on compensation claims plural.

Kiki7976

Hi again. I was a passenger in a car that was stationary while another car crashed into it badly. I went through a tear of  therapy.  My children were in the car. It was a terrible time of my life.
My wheelchair overturned a few weeks ago. I have broken my wrist as I tried to save myself. I hope this makes sense 😒.
Im on Contributions based ESA with a declared privite pension. I'm on no means tested benifits at all 

Grumpy_chap

MyRealNameToo said:

Personally find it a bit odd though that we pay a claimant £500,000 for an injury including loss of earnings and future care but the claimant can put that into a trust so they can still claim means tested benefits and qualify for state care etc. 

Muttleythefrog said:

Surely the idea is that people are not put off from claiming against wrongs.. if someone is going to be punished (we'll take away your income and force you into new claims with reassessments in future once your money is spent) for a successful claim that will likely bring with it its own stresses and difficulties then it is deterrent. Much compensation might also be used to address directly or indirectly the consequences of malpractice or failings of others and this would be problematic with benefits as you'd be having to face the nightmare of repeated reporting of spending and justifying it if encountering query for deprivation of capital which is highly subjective so you can never be sure what would be considered unreasonable spending... is someone who thanks to GP incompetence facing a terminal diagnosis of a couple of years spending £10,000 on a holiday spending capital appropriately.... one may argue yes given it may be the last holiday they ever have.. but they could go to Butlins for far less.

Well, that is complex, and you are both correct and incorrect, and both to the same degree, at the same time.

If the compensation is for "loss of earnings" as suggested by MRNT, then it does seem logical that amount which is instead of earnings is used to pay for everyday things and just the cost of living.  It would include needing to make pension provision and such like.  Anything the individual would have met from their future salary income and to a similar level.  It is rationale that such amounts are considered in assessment of means-tested benefits as the earnings for which the compensation are replacing would have been considered.

If the compensation is for "future care" that the individual would not have required had it not been for the incident, then that amount of funding is logically not considered in any means-tested assessment.

If compensation is for "pain and suffering" / "impact to quality of life" that is altogether more complex and probably sits between the two.

Fortunately, the OP has confirmed they are not claiming any means-tested benefits so this is moot in their case.  We probably cannot say much more in this line of discussion lest the topic becomes one of benefits policy / political.

Muttleythefrog

Grumpy_chap said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Personally find it a bit odd though that we pay a claimant £500,000 for an injury including loss of earnings and future care but the claimant can put that into a trust so they can still claim means tested benefits and qualify for state care etc. 

Muttleythefrog said:

Surely the idea is that people are not put off from claiming against wrongs.. if someone is going to be punished (we'll take away your income and force you into new claims with reassessments in future once your money is spent) for a successful claim that will likely bring with it its own stresses and difficulties then it is deterrent. Much compensation might also be used to address directly or indirectly the consequences of malpractice or failings of others and this would be problematic with benefits as you'd be having to face the nightmare of repeated reporting of spending and justifying it if encountering query for deprivation of capital which is highly subjective so you can never be sure what would be considered unreasonable spending... is someone who thanks to GP incompetence facing a terminal diagnosis of a couple of years spending £10,000 on a holiday spending capital appropriately.... one may argue yes given it may be the last holiday they ever have.. but they could go to Butlins for far less.

If the compensation is for "loss of earnings" as suggested by MRNT

I would suggest this is unlikely... they were claiming CBased ESA at least 3 years before the car accident according to thread in 2019 (and in 2021 an image posted of the ESA award letter shows they also were getting DLA)... it is possible to be working and claiming Cbased ESA but only small percentages do and usually not much work... the Op would know but probably they don't work... I should research more before taking that punt but I've got really bad eye sight due to chemo effects... making it difficult at moment. They would have been working (soon) prior to claim otherwise the NI contributions criteria would not be met. But it looks unlikely much of any compensation will be surrounding loss of earnings.... loss of benefits also seems unlikely under current rules.

So yes it could be very complex.. because parking those things aside you still have someone with disabilities before suffering the car accident or later events giving rise to civil case consideration.

Kiki7976

I have never been awarded any means tested benifits with my ESA. I worked all my life until I had to claim ESA and medically retire from my job. I had a private pension. Thats all. Im still really confused about all of this 😢. You have all been amazing 👏