Can I claim injury compensation if my employer went bust?

Claiming accident at work compensation from an employer is complicated enough, but what can you do if your ex employer is no longer in business?

An accident in the workplace can leave long lasting mental and physical scars. The accident may have left you temporarily or permanently unable to work, may have affected the way you work or could leave you with psychological trauma.

In order to make a work injury claim, you must first notify your employer who will in turn notify their insurer. The insurer will then begin to process the claim. This should be done as soon as possible.

Read more:

Claiming compensation for a work accident if the insurer has gone bust

If your employer has ceased trading you are still able to claim compensation for an injury that happened while you were working for them, however this may take considerably longer to process.

At the time of your accident, your employer should have had a form of worker compensation insurance in place. If an employer did not have this in place, they would have to produce the compensation from their own business thus leading to bankruptcy or inability to pay. To prevent this happening, all employers are required by UK law to have worker compensation insurance. This will pay for your compensation claim if you are successful.

If your employer has stopped trading, their insurance policy will still meet their liability even if the business is bankrupt or no longer active.

As part of your accident at work compensation, you are able to claim for

Special damages which include:

• Loss of income
• Travel expenses
• Nursing expenses
• Medical expenses
• Loss of holiday
• Care and assistance expense

General damages, these include:

• Compensation for pain and suffering due to a trauma
• Compensation for future financial losses

You may also able to claim interest on both special damages and general damages. The rate of interest will vary depending on the type of damage (special or general).

It is recommended that you contact a specialist UK work injury solicitor. Quittance's expert panel of solicitors are experienced in dealing with workplace injuries from falls to crush injuries to manual handling injuries.

Employers' liability claims claims

Work accident claims are also known as employers' liability claims. Click on the icons below for more information:

Work
accidents

Other
accidents

How we can help you with your work accident claim

Your solicitor will fight for the best possible compensation settlement for you, and the highly-experienced panel of solicitors have an excellent track record of winning work accident claims.

• FREE
  consultation
• Find out
  if you can claim
• No obligation
  to start a claim

Handled with the utmost professionalism... extremely kind, courteous and empathetic.

The Good Solicitor Guide

£175,000 award for joiner with mesothelioma

Read more case studies

Author:
Gaynor Haliday, Legal researcher

About the author

Gaynor Haliday is an experienced legal researcher and published author. She has had numerous articles published in the press and is a legal industry commentator.