Birth Injury Compensation Claims

What are the most common birth injuries?

Potentially affecting both mother and baby, there are several causes of birth injuries:

• Birth complications or injuries to the mother or baby sustained during or after delivery due to malpractice (poor care).
• Negligent care in the run-up to the birth that results in complications not being screened for, found and treated.
• Infection following delivery.
• The use of the wrong medication before, during or after delivery.
• Miscarriage, stillbirth and the death of a newborn.
• Conditions such as Erb's Palsy (damage to the shoulder nerves) and cerebral palsy caused by injury to the brain at birth.

Mental health difficulties associated with a birth injury.

What is a no win no fee birth injury claim?

No win no feebirth injury claims ensure people who are not successful when pursuing compensation do not have to pay any fees. Also known as conditional fee agreements (CFAs), they are an agreement with your UK-based birth injury solicitor that means anyone can start a compensation claim, without incurring any financial risk.  

If you win, you will pay any pre-agreed fees out of your compensation award, which may include costs paid for by the responsible party. Any fees will be agreed upon between you and your solicitor early on and be capped at a fair level.

Can I make a birth injury compensation claim?

If claiming for a baby's birth injury, you can do so on their behalf before they turn 18. After that, they have three years to start a claim. If the child passed away, a claim can be made within the following three years. 

If you are making a claim based on birth injuries to the mother, you can make a claim as long as the injury took place or was diagnosed within the past three years.

Whatever the circumstances of the birth injury or complication you are claiming for, and whether it happened under the care of the NHS or a private healthcare provider, get in touch with our teamand they'll tell you in your first call whether you're eligible.

How do I start a birth injury lawsuit?

To start our birth injury lawsuit process, there are three simple options available to you:

• Fill in the form at the top of this page. We'll be in contact soon.
• Give us a call on 0800 587 0344- our team are available any day of the week, until late.
• Visit our birth injury compensation calculatorto see how much you could claim, then contact our team from there.

How does the birth injury claims process work?

Having worked with many families to successfully get them birth injury compensation, we have made our claims process as simple and stress-free as possible:

1. Once you have been accepted by one of our birth injury solicitors, they will talk to you about the birth injury - how it happened, how it has affected you, and who might be responsible. They may ask for evidence, such as photographs or medical records.
2. Your solicitor will contact those responsible - the NHS or your private medical provider, for instance - and let them know you wish to claim for birth injury compensation.
3. The responsible party may accept fault, in which case your birth injury lawsuit settlement will be worked out. If they decide to fight the case, your solicitor will handle everything and keep you informed every step of the way.
4. If a settlement is reached, your fees will be deducted from your birth injury compensation as agreed previously with your solicitor. If your case isn't successful, you'll pay nothing.

How long will my birth injury claim take?

Every birth injury claim is different, so it's impossible to say exactly how long it will take for your solicitor to get compensation for birth injuries, malpractice or negligence. 

There are many factors at play, including the specific injury, how it happened, how it's affected you, and how the person or organisation held responsible responds to your claim. We may also need time to gather evidence to improve the likelihood of you getting compensation.

We'll tell you right away if we think you have a good chance of having a genuine claim and your solicitor will work on your behalf through the whole process, providing all the support you require.

What is the average birth injury settlement in the UK?

It's difficult to say exactly how much the average birth injury settlement in the UK is since every case is different and many claims aren't made public. It's for the same reason we can't definitively say how much your birth injury compensation might be worth.

Our solicitors will work out how much you could claim for based on the 15th Edition of the Judicial College Guidelines. These are clear rules on what different injuries are worth - a brain injury during birth may call for more compensation than a broken bone, for instance.

Get an initial understanding of how much you could claim for using our birth injury compensation calculatoror talk to our team.

Will I have to go to court?

Typically, birth injury claims are settled outside of court, so you won't have to go. If the person or organisation chooses to contest your claim, the case may go to court. If this happens, we will take care of everything, keeping you updated and making sure you're fully prepared if you need to appear in person.

Do I need to take out no win no fee insurance?

It might be the case that we advise you to take out a policy known as After the Event (ATE) insurance when you begin your birth injury lawsuit.

Set up by our team on your behalf, this policy pays your legal costs if you lose your case. You only pay the insurance premium if you win the case, alongside your legal fees. The amount you pay will be pre agreed with you before your case is taken forward and will be taken from the compensation awarded - so there really is nothing to worry about.

What happens if I lose my birth injury claim?

If you lose your birth injury claim, you will pay nothing, and have paid nothing, since we don't charge any fees upfront. This is a key part of no win no fee claims.