The Financial Impact of a Serious Injury

Being injured doesn’t just come with physical, mental, and emotional costs. It can also hurt your finances, too. For example, you might suffer an injury that renders you unable to work for extended periods of time, pushing you into financial difficulty and forcing you to resort to debt.

Anticipating these problems will often allow you to deal with them more effectively. So, what can be done?

Manage your money

If you’re going to be living with a different set of financial circumstances, then it makes sense to reconsider your spending. Do this with the help of a budget. This should lay out exactly where money is coming into your accounts, and where it’s leaving. It might be that you can reduce your non-essential spending, either by cutting the things you don’t need or by shopping around for the things that you do.

Consider your legal rights to compensation

Under UK law, a person who is injured because of the actions of another person (or organisation) might seek damages through the courts. A competent solicitor might specialise in personal injury claims and act on your behalf on a no-win, no-fee basis.

You may be entitled to more damages if you can demonstrate a loss of earnings, additional costs, and that you’ve undergone pain and suffering. Be aware, however, that the system can only provide a legal remedy if a harm has been perpetrated. In other words, if you haven’t lost out because of the actions of, say, your employer, then you won’t be able to get them to pay you.

Look into financial assistance programs

Legal claims can take a long time to go through. If you have a need for cash that’s more pressing, then you might resort to help from the government. In fact, if your injury warrants it, then you might rely on government support in the medium or long term. There are various kinds of support, including Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which comes in at £118.75 and is paid by your employer for twenty-eight weeks.

Stay on top of your debts

When your income suddenly drops, your debts can quickly amass. After all, you might need to lean into your creditors a little bit in order to absorb the short-term financial shock. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this – but it’s important to be aware of your spending on debts, and to have a clear plan for managing and clearing them before they run out of control.

This might mean negotiating an extension on your payments or changing your repayment schedule entirely.