Head and Brain Injury Claims: From Concussion to Serious Brain Injury
A head or brain injury claim is a personal injury claim for anything from concussion to a severe traumatic brain injury caused by someone else's fault, on the road, at work or in a public place; it must normally start within three years, the clock does not run while the injured person lacks the mental capacity to manage a claim, and National Accident Support Line assesses whether there is a claim and refers it to a specialist solicitor who acts on a no win no fee basis, with a callback within 2 minutes.
Head injuries are the ones people play down. The scan comes back clear, the hospital sends you home with a leaflet, and two weeks later you can't follow a conversation at work or you're asleep by seven every night. Concussion usually settles within a couple of weeks. When it doesn't, or when the change is in mood, memory or patience rather than pain, it is often the family who notice first. Where the injury came from a crash, a fall or a hazard someone else should have dealt with, the cost of the recovery sits with them.
We'll call you back within 2 minutes with a straight answer on where you stand.
From a bump on the head to a brain injury
The term covers a wide range. At one end is a cut or a bump to the head and a few days of headache. Then concussion, where the brain has been shaken inside the skull: headaches, dizziness, sickness, poor concentration, and sleep that won't come or won't stop. Then the injuries doctors call traumatic brain injuries, such as bleeding or bruising on the brain and skull fractures, and the ones that change how a person thinks, remembers or behaves. Headway, the brain injury charity, describes many of these effects as a hidden disability, because the person can look completely well while living with fatigue, memory problems or a shorter temper than they used to have.
| Type of injury | What it often looks like | What the claim needs to show |
|---|---|---|
| Minor head injury | A cut, bruise or bump, headache, a short recovery | What caused it and a record of treatment on the day |
| Concussion | Headaches, dizziness, poor concentration, disturbed sleep, sometimes for weeks | The diagnosis, and a record of the symptoms and time off while they lasted |
| Symptoms that don't settle | Months of fatigue, low mood, memory lapses, sensitivity to noise and light | Medical evidence linking the ongoing symptoms to the accident |
| Skull fracture or bleed on the brain | Hospital admission, monitoring, sometimes surgery | The hospital records and the specialist's view of the long-term outlook |
| Traumatic brain injury with lasting effects | Changes in memory, behaviour, speech or movement, a need for care and therapy | Specialist medical, care and employment evidence, often gathered over a long period |
Where head injuries happen and who is responsible
| Where | What usually causes it | Who is responsible |
|---|---|---|
| On the road | A collision as a driver, passenger, rider, cyclist or pedestrian | The at-fault driver's insurer |
| At work | Falling objects, falls from height, low beams, vehicles in a yard | The employer, through its employers' liability insurance |
| Shop, pub, gym or public building | A wet floor, unlit steps, loose fittings | Whoever occupies and runs the premises |
| Pavement or road surface | A trip on a defect and a fall onto the kerb | The highway authority, usually the council |
| An assault | A deliberate attack | The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which has its own two-year deadline |
What a head or brain injury claim pays for
A claim has two parts. The first is the injury itself, valued on the medical evidence: how serious it was, how long it lasted and whether it has left a lasting effect. The second is what it has cost and will cost. Earnings lost while you were off, and any drop in what you can earn in future. Treatment and rehabilitation, including the physiotherapy, neuropsychology or occupational therapy that an NHS waiting list can't offer quickly. Care given by family, which is valued even when nobody was paid for it. Travel to appointments, adaptations, and the extra costs of living with a lasting injury.
For more serious injuries, insurers are expected to look at rehabilitation from the earliest practical stage under the Rehabilitation Code, and a solicitor can ask for interim payments so that treatment and household bills don't have to wait for the end of the claim.
We'll call you back within 2 minutes with a straight answer on where you stand.
When the person who was hurt can't manage the claim
With a serious brain injury, the person who was hurt is often not the person who makes the first call. A partner, a parent or a grown-up son or daughter can start things. A solicitor can arrange for a family member to act as a litigation friend, someone who makes decisions about the claim on the injured person's behalf. While the injured person lacks the mental capacity to manage the claim, the three-year time limit does not run, and any settlement for someone without capacity has to be approved by the court so that the money is protected. For a child, a parent can claim at any point before their 18th birthday, and the child then has three years from that birthday to claim for themselves.
The situations people describe to us
"The CT scan was clear, but he hasn't been right since"
A clear scan rules out bleeding and fractures. It doesn't rule out concussion, or the symptoms that can linger for months afterwards. Start a diary today: the headaches, the days he slept through, the conversations he lost track of, the shifts he missed. That record, alongside the GP's notes, is often what shows how long the effects really lasted.
"The other driver's insurer has already offered to settle"
An early offer arrives before anyone knows how the recovery will go, and once it is accepted it is final. With a head injury, where symptoms can still be changing weeks later, it makes sense to have a medical assessment before agreeing to anything. You don't have to deal with the insurer yourself.
"I hit my head on a beam at work and thought nothing of it"
Knocks at work often go unrecorded because they seem minor at the time. If the headaches and dizziness came on afterwards, get the accident into the accident book now, with the date it happened, and see your GP. A late record is still a record.
"I'm self-employed and can't work"
Lost earnings are part of the claim for self-employed people too. Invoices, bank statements and previous tax returns show what you were earning before the accident and what the injury has cost you since.
What to do after a head injury
Get it checked the same day. The NHS advises calling 999 if someone has been knocked out and hasn't woken up, or has a fit, and sets out when to go to A&E for symptoms such as vomiting or a headache that won't go away; if in doubt, get seen. Ask whoever controls the place to write down what happened. Photograph the cause and the injury. Take the names of anyone who saw it. Don't drive until a doctor has said you're fit to. Keep a symptom diary and every receipt. Then get in touch.
How a head injury claim works with National Accident Support Line
Tell us what happened, by the form, WhatsApp or a call to 0333 212 2730; web enquiries are called back within 2 minutes during opening hours, and a family member can make that first call. We ask how the injury happened, who was responsible, what treatment there has been and how things are now. If there is a claim, we refer it to a specialist solicitor experienced in head and brain injuries, who runs it on a no win no fee basis. If there isn't, we tell you straight. Where the injury came from a road accident that wasn't your fault, NASL can also take care of the vehicle side of a non-fault crash: recovery, repairs and a replacement car, with the costs recovered from the at-fault insurer. NASL is an FCA-regulated claims management company, not a law firm. Injuries to the neck and spine have their own pages, neck injury claims and spinal cord injuries, and the full range of injury claims we refer is set out on the personal injury page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim for concussion?
Yes, where someone else's fault caused it. Concussion claims are valued on how long the symptoms lasted and what they cost you, which is why a record of the weeks afterwards matters.
How long do I have to make a head injury claim?
Three years from the accident, or from when you first knew the injury was linked to it. For a child, three years from their 18th birthday. The clock does not run while the injured person lacks the mental capacity to manage a claim.
Can I claim for a family member with a brain injury?
Yes. A family member can act as a litigation friend for a child or for an adult who can't manage the claim, making decisions on their behalf with the solicitor.
How much compensation is a head injury worth?
It depends on how serious the injury is, how well the person recovers and what it has cost in earnings and care. Nobody can give an honest figure before the medical evidence exists, and a brain injury claim is often not valued until the long-term picture is clear.
How long does a brain injury claim take?
A minor head injury claim can settle once the recovery is clear. Serious brain injury claims take longer, because the lasting effects have to be understood before the claim is valued. Interim payments can cover treatment and bills in the meantime.
Can I still claim if I was partly to blame?
Usually, yes. If you were partly responsible, the compensation is reduced by your share rather than refused.
What does no win no fee mean?
Nothing to pay upfront and nothing to your solicitor if the claim fails. If it succeeds, the solicitor's success fee, capped at 25% of your compensation for the injury and past losses, comes out of the award, along with any insurance premium; the total is set out in writing before you sign.
We'll call you back within 2 minutes with a straight answer on where you stand.
National Accident Support Line Ltd is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of regulated claims management activities, registration number 829991.