How Long Does a Personal Injury Claim Take?
How long does a personal injury claim take to settle?
Most personal injury claims settle within 12–18 months, though simple cases can resolve in as little as six months. Our expert solicitors work to move your case forward efficiently while protecting your right to full and fair compensation.
“Osbornes fields a specialist personal injury team with standout expertise in catastrophic trauma, regularly securing multimillion-pound settlements in spinal, brain, and amputation cases. “
“Osbornes has considerable experience in cases arising from motor accidents and accidents at work.”
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Many people worry that a personal injury claim will drag on forever. The reality is, most cases settle within 12 to 18 months, although there’s no universal timeline. Straightforward cases where the other side admits liability may settle in as little as 4-6 months. Complex cases involving serious injuries can take two years or longer. The court will set a mandatory timetable to keep your claim moving toward a final hearing or settlement.
We understand that you want your claim to be resolved quickly, but it’s important not to rush into a settlement. If you settle too early and your condition worsens, you cannot reopen the claim to ask for more money.
Wherever possible, our personal injury solicitors will apply for interim payments while your case is ongoing. Having access to funds while the claim runs its course can make a significant difference to your recovery, and we fight hard to secure interim payments for clients who need them.
What affects how long a personal injury claim takes?
The following factors feed into the length of time a claim takes:
1. The type of accident
The kind of accident you’ve had affects how long your claim may take. A simple car accident where the other driver rear ended your vehicle almost always will settle faster than a complex accident at work claim requiring investigations into working conditions going back several years.
As a rough guide, here are the estimated settlement timeframes for various types of claims. Every case is different however, and only your solicitor can give a realistic idea of how long your particular claim might take:
- Road accident – 4-9 months
- Accident at work – 6-12 months
- Slip, trip and fall – 6-12 months
- Medical negligence claim – 12-36 months
2. The severity of your injuries
The more serious your injuries, the longer your claim will take. Ideally, you will wait until you have recovered or reached a point where medical experts can provide a clear prognosis before settling your claim, so the amount covers all your future needs. Sometimes though, a doctor cannot provide a realistic timescale for your recovery straightaway. Perhaps you need further treatment or surgery and must await the outcome, or the doctor might recommend that a further report be obtained from a specialist.
For straightforward injuries like whiplash, you’ll typically see a GP who can provide a report relatively quickly. More complex injuries involving fractures, head trauma or spinal damage require examination by consultant specialists such as orthopaedic surgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists. occupational therapists and other relevant experts. These specialists may need to review your hospital records, GP notes, x-rays and MRI scans before examining you. It can take several weeks for them to prepare and deliver their reports to your solicitor, which adds to the overall timeline.
If you settle too early, before understanding the full impact of your injuries, you risk accepting compensation that doesn’t cover your long-term medical needs. Once you accept a settlement, you can’t ask for more money later.
3. How long it takes the other side to admit liability
Your claim will follow a set of rules (called protocols) that parties in a personal injury claim must comply with. The protocols say that, once you submit a claim, the defendant must acknowledge it within 21 days. They then have up to three months to investigate and decide whether to admit responsibility or deny it.
An early admission of liability usually results in the claim progressing much faster. Once liability is admitted, your solicitor can focus on negotiating compensation for your injuries without having to spend time gathering extra evidence to prove the other side is at fault.
Unfortunately, some defendants and their insurance companies believe that the best way to defeat a claim is to obstruct it. They might ignore correspondence or deliberately slow down their internal investigations. The solution to this problem is to use an experienced personal injury solicitor. They can monitor the other side’s actions and enforce compliance through the legal system.
4. Whether your case goes to court
Only around 2-5% of personal injury claims go to trial, so it is rare for a case to enter the litigation phase. Court proceedings typically only happen when there’s a significant dispute over liability or the value of the claim that cannot be resolved through negotiation.
Once a case enters litigation, it follows strict Civil Procedure Rules and a timetable set by the court. These court-imposed schedules are often much longer than informal pre-litigation negotiations, and you’re also at the mercy of court backlogs that prolong the process.
There is not much you can do to speed up a slow court process other than working with an expert solicitor who proactively takes the correct legal steps as soon as the process permits.
How long after your medical report will you get an offer?
Once your solicitor receives the medical report, they will review it carefully and use it to calculate the full value of your claim. The amount covers your pain and suffering (general damages) and your financial losses such as medical expenses, lost earnings, travel costs and ongoing care needs (special damages).
Your solicitor will then prepare a detailed demand package and send it to the defendant or their insurance company. This package outlines your injuries, the impact on your life, your financial losses, and a request for compensation.
The defendant’s insurance company typically takes a few weeks to review the demand package. They may ask for additional information or clarification. Once they’ve completed their review, they usually make an initial settlement offer. In practice, you can expect to receive a first settlement offer within around eight weeks after the medical report is sent to the other side, though this varies depending on the complexity of your case and how responsive the insurance company is.
More often than not, the first offer will be lower than what your claim is actually worth. Your solicitor will advise you whether an offer is fair and will negotiate on your behalf to increase it if necessary.
For further information, read our: Personal Injury Compensation Guide
How long after the settlement will I receive my money?
If your personal injury claim settles in your favour, compensation is usually paid within two to four weeks. Whether the case resolves in or out of court, a firm deadline for payment will be set.
Can you get money before your claim settles?
If you’ve suffered serious injuries and are facing financial hardship while waiting for your claim to settle, you may be able to request a partial payment of your compensation. To qualify for an interim payment:
- The other party must have admitted liability, or your solicitor must be able to show there’s a strong likelihood of success in your case, and
- You must demonstrate a genuine need for the payment, such as urgent medical treatment or being unable to work.
Any interim payments you receive are deducted from your final settlement, so you won’t get less compensation overall.
How can you speed up a personal injury claim?
While some delays are unavoidable, there are several things you can do to help your claim progress as smoothly and quickly as possible:
- Promptly hire an experienced personal injury solicitor.
- Provide all requested documents and evidence quickly, including photos, accident logs, witness information and insurance information.
- Attend medical appointments without delay.
- Attend a Joint Settlement Meeting if your solicitor recommends this approach.
- Trust your solicitor’s advice about whether an offer is fair.
- Be responsive and honest with your solicitor throughout the process.
Why choose Osbornes Law as your personal injury solicitor?
Osbornes Law has been representing injured people for over 50 years and is one of the UK’s leading personal injury firms. Our award-winning team includes solicitors who hold Senior Litigator status from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), demonstrating our commitment to excellence. We are recognised by leading legal directories including Chambers UK and Legal 500, and have the expertise to take on even the most challenging claims.
Our multilingual team includes solicitors and paralegals who speak multiple languages, including Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovakian and Spanish. We operate on a no win, no fee basis for most personal injury claims, meaning you don’t pay legal fees unless your claim succeeds.
Call us for a free initial consultation
If you have been injured in an accident involving an Amazon delivery driver:
- Call us on 020 7485 8811, or
- Fill out the contact form below.
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Personal Injury Accreditations
The team offers specialist expertise in cycling-related injury claims and regularly acts for foreign nationals.
It has considerable experience in cases arising from motor accidents and accidents at work.
Osbornes has a well-regarded personal injury practice well equipped to advise on high-value and high-profile claims, including fatalities and severe injuries regarding the brain and spinal cord.
Osbornes have expert leadership. They are very client-centred and provide great communication.
They have got a team of strong partners who are experienced and capable, and their lawyers have a can-do attitude and don't seem to be fazed by anything.
They grasp complex and sophisticated matters quickly.
From partners to associates, the lawyers are committed to ensuring a successful outcome for every client.
They have intelligent, experienced lawyers who advise their clients very carefully.
Osbornes deal with their clients in a very professional manner, attempting to get the best results at all times.
Ben Posford, head of catastrophic injury, is well-known for spinal cord and cauda equina claims, including high-profile fatality work.
Osbornes fields a specialist personal injury team with standout expertise in catastrophic trauma, regularly securing multimillion-pound settlements in spinal, brain, and amputation cases.
Excellent firm with a good insight into and prosecution of catastrophic PI work handled by an experienced team.
Without doubt, Osbornes are the firm to watch in London.
This team is growing in profile all the time. The firm now has many of London's leading personal injury solicitors.
The file handlers I have worked with are experienced and expert personal injury practitioners who can be relied upon to achieve excellent outcomes for the client.
They are very supportive of their clients and are willing to take on difficult cases.
This team is very well organised and approach their cases with great attention to detail.
They have particular expertise in dealing with Eastern European clients who speak little or no English as they have native speakers within their team.
Osbornes is a excellent firm for high value and complex personal injury work.
Osbornes Law is a really strong team with a lot of depth.
Osbornes work professionally as a team, responding diligently to emails or telephone calls.
Osbornes deals with fatalities incurred during traffic and workplace accidents.
Osbornes clients are individuals whose cases are treated with the focus required when dealing with life changing injuries.
Fielding a ‘first class, very well resourced’ team of litigators, the personal injury department at Osbornes is rated for its diverse workload of complex, high-value injury claims, representing both domestic and international claimants.
Osbornes is an excellent firm, made up of lawyers with flair and pedigree.
Osbornes lawyers are smart, well trained, experienced and well managed.
Osbornes personal injury practice is first class; very well resourced and second to none.
Osbornes is becoming one of the top players in the claimant personal injury market. A large team with a great number of very high quality solicitors.
Osbornes is a highly proficient serious injury firm. They bring all the benefits of the biggest firms in the market but none of the downsides.
Osbornes prepares cases well; the whole team is good and lawyers there know their stuff.
They deal with people compassionately and take on the right amount of detail. The firm has some really brilliant key solicitors.
The personal injury team is responsive and its level of service towards clients and other professionals is exceptional and high quality
The team offers specialist expertise in cycling-related injury claims and regularly acts for foreign nationals.
It has considerable experience in cases arising from motor accidents and accidents at work
Osbornes is a well-regarded personal injury practice well equipped to advise on high-value and high-profile claims.
Their team includes bright, hard-working solicitors dedicated to achieving successful outcomes for their clients from partner level to paralegal. Their client care is exceptional.
They are a team who are highly respected in the PI sector.
This is an excellent PI team doing a broad range of PI work.
Osbornes’ ‘highly respected‘ personal injury team is experienced in a range of complex, high-value claims, with notable strength in acting for European clients for whom English is not a first language.
Osbornes’ ‘highly respected‘ personal injury team is experienced in a range of complex, high-value claims
Osbornes’ ‘highly respected‘ personal injury team is experienced in a range of complex, high-value claims.
"They punch well above their weight. The quality of service they provide equals that of any of the larger top-name firms in this area"
Ben Posford is fiercely bright, with an unrivalled passion for his clients’ cases. His encyclopaedic knowledge of all things PI is second to none. His foresight and commercial nous have propelled Osbornes into the highest echelons of the market where they rightly belong.
The firm has an excellent and innovative line in cases involving non-English speaking claimants, managed by recruiting paralegals with multi-language skills – an impressive route for expansion of the caseload.
Great expanding team with expertise and respect in the sector. Led by a commercially savvy and business minded team.
A really excellent group of PI solicitors, notable for their individual quality.’
A niche firm that punches well above its weight in the catastrophic injury sector, borne out by the quality of work they obtain.
This combination of experience and diligence reaps massive rewards for clients, Osbornes being well known in the industry as a fantastic firm.
The Osbornes personal injury team now comprises some of the most technically adept and hard hitting lawyers in the business.
Excellent coverage of personal injury, and traumatic brain injury. There is a real specialism in claimants who do not speak English as a first language.
The group is noted for its expertise in matters relating to cycling injuries, and is the official legal partner of the London Cycling Campaign charity.
To complement its strong reputation for high-value and complex personal injury work, the firm continues to develop its 'excellent and innovative line in cases involving non-English speaking claimants'
"Osbornes comprises some of the most technically adept and hard hitting lawyers in the business"
"A small but high-powered team, dealing with cases of significant value and complexity."
"An excellent firm which achieves fantastic outcomes for clients."
"Osbornes Law have captured the magic of keeping the customer service levels of a smaller firm whilst having all the expertise and power of the biggest firms."
"A superb boutique catastrophic injury firm."
"Really good at dealing with people who have suffered a serious injury."
"Affable and charming with very good client-handling skills."
"superb firm with consummate professionals and a human touch."
Osbornes now has a team of highly experienced personal injury lawyers; particularly strong on high-value quantum cases, workplace accidents and claims involving foreign workers injured in the UK.
The team provides fantastic strength-in-depth for personal injury claims. It is also particularly well placed to service clients from Eastern Europe with specialist native language speakers. From the smallest case to a multimillion-pound spinal injury case, Osbornes has the right staff to manage every claim.
Ben Posford remains pre-eminent in his field with expert understanding of litigating cases of the upmost severity. His experience builds on Stuart Kightley’s running of the firm with recent partner additions of Rob Aylott making a fantastic addition.
A firm going from strength-to strength-which retains its client care whilst being able to offer a full personal injury service.
Beneath Ben Posford’s calm and reassuring presence, which clients love, lies a formidable tactical and legal brain. His experience tells and he gets it right at every stage of the process from arranging the best possible rehabilitation, to ensuring, so far as possible, a polite relationship with those acting for the defendant in order to ensure best and early resolution of the claim.
"Clients say he is very impressive, in terms of both his experience and his management of the personal injury team."
"They have an expanding profile in personal injury and clinical negligence and offer a superb, broad service in accidents abroad, enabled by their recruitment of bilingual legal executives who can guide non-English speakers through complex litigation."
"Solid personal injury practice well equipped to advise on high-value and high-profile claims arising from fatalities and severe head and spinal injuries."
"Offers specialist expertise in cycling-related injury claims."
"Offers specialist expertise in cauda equina syndrome cases."
"An exceptional outfit. They take on difficult cases, fight hard and win."
"Stuart Kightley is an incredibly empathetic solicitor who is very knowledgeable about traumatic brain injury."
"They are an outstanding firm to work with. They are consistently impressive in their work."
"Osbornes often handles claims valued at over £1m, particularly relating to severe brain and spinal cord injuries and niche areas such as cauda equina syndrome and cycling accidents."
"The hard-working, thorough and committed Robert Aylott, who brings significant heavyweight personal injury experience."
"Key team members include the energetic and personable Stuart Kightley who is head of the personal injury department."
Thank you for the hard work and patience and for being so patient with my constant questions.
"I have found Osbornes to be thorough, clear and understanding from the initial call. They do exactly what they say they will and with passion! I would recommend them to anyone".
Very good efficient service. Would not hesitate to use again.
I will use Osbornes for any future needs.
I don't think I could have asked for anything more. One of the best dealings I've had with the legal profession.
Sam was excellent and very professional in dealing with our claim.
Head of the personal injury department, Stuart Kightley is a first-rate practitioner, wholly focused on getting his client the best outcome in a pragmatic, sensible and consensual manner.
As a real specialist in spinal cord injuries, Ben Posford is always looking at new angles on how to maximise his cases.
Ben Posford is one of the best catastrophic injury lawyers around.
They provide exceptional service, great knowledge and understanding of the law, excellent client care and tactical nous
Stuart Kightley is praised for his expertise in catastrophic and fatal claims. Clients say he is very impressive, in terms of both his experience and his management of the personal injury team.
My claim was dealt with efficiently and professionally. Communication was excellent, and timely. Shrewd and sound advice was provided at every stage of the claim from beginning through to completion. On the basis of my personal experience I would strongly recommend Osbornes.
I just wish to thank you for your hard work and successful outcome. I am pleased with the result and would recommend you and your firm to anyone in the future.
Ben Posford … is ‘tactically astute’ and ‘one of the best personal injury solicitors around’.
Ben Posford ‘knows how to maximise the value of the claim for his clients’.
Our Personal Injury Team View the whole team
Rob Aylott
Partner
Personal Injury SolicitorsSam Collard
Partner
Personal Injury SolicitorsSophie Davies
Partner
Personal Injury SolicitorsLaura Swaine
Partner
Personal Injury SolicitorsNicola Hall
Senior Associate
Personal Injury SolicitorsAndrew Middlehurst
Senior Associate
Personal Injury SolicitorsView the
whole team
