Piecing life back together after road traffic collisions

Support after life-changing injuries

If an injury occurs which has a life-changing impact on you and your family, there is help available.

If the injured party is the main wage earner, and cannot return to work for some time, or in the case of life-changing injuries, perhaps they may never be able to return to their former employment, it’s natural for concerns to arise about money.

A welfare benefits check-up will consider your individual circumstances and advise as to what welfare benefits you may be able to claim and at what rate. It’s important also to look at insurance policies you may hold, to see whether you are able to claim against them to replace a proportion of your income for a fixed period of time.

If you are struggling to keep up your mortgage, rent, credit card repayments or any other outgoings, talk to your bank, building society, landlord or provider as soon as possible to discuss options.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation plays a vital part in a person’s recovery, maximising outcomes and enabling the injured person to make the best recovery possible. Starting rehabilitation as early as possible after injury enables people to achieve better outcomes, have fewer complications and helps get them back to work in a shorter period of time, but due to a lack of NHS funding and availability of expertise, rehabilitation remains a postcode lottery.

Legal assistance

If the road traffic collision which caused the injuries was the fault of another, it may be possible to explore bringing a claim for compensation. A personal injury claim is about much more than just a financial settlement. As part of a claim, you may be entitled to interim payments, paid in advance of final settlement of your claim, to ease the financial burden caused by your injuries. Under the Rehabilitation Code your solicitor may be able to secure funds from the other party so that specialist rehabilitation is accessible to you while your case is ongoing.

A claim will also look at your ongoing needs: you may need your house adapting if your mobility is affected or a new property purchased if your current home is not appropriate for adaptations; you may not be able to return to your pre-injury employment and have to take a lower paid job, leading to a loss-of-future-earnings entitlement; and for serious injuries, you may need ongoing care and support.

Julie McCarthy, from Brain Injury Group, wrote this blog for Road Safety Week 2023. Sign up to join the national conversation about speed.