Burn Injury Solicitors

You may be able to claim for any burn injury caused by someone else's negligence: chemical burns, electrical burns, scalds, contact burns, radiation burns, or burns from gas explosions and fires. The degree and proportion of the body affected will influence the level of compensation. Our serious injury claims team typically handles burn injury claims where someone else's negligence has caused significant scarring, ongoing treatment needs, psychological trauma, or other long-term effects.

Burns are generally classified by how deeply the skin and underlying tissue have been damaged.

• First-degree burns affect only the outer skin layer and usually heal without permanent damage.
• Second-degree burns reach the second skin layer and cause blistering, swelling, and significant pain.
• Third-degree burns damage the full thickness of the skin and often damage nerves, meaning they can be painless while causing severe long-term harm.
• Fourth-degree burns extend below the skin and can damage muscles, tendons, and bone.

The classification affects the medical treatment required, recovery time, and the level of compensation that may be awarded.

Compensation is assessed using the Judicial College Guidelines, which provide ranges based on injury severity and extent. For burns covering more than 40% of the body, general damages alone can exceed £127,930.

Compensation may also include financial losses such as lost earnings, private treatment, plastic or reconstructive surgery, ongoing care, rehabilitation, and home adaptations. We work with independent experts to assess your prognosis and any future needs so we can seek the maximum compensation possible.

Employers are legally required to protect staff from foreseeable burn risks. You can check those legal obligations on the government's legislation website. This includes carrying out appropriate risk assessments, providing suitable protective equipment, maintaining machinery properly, and ensuring employees receive adequate training when working with hazardous substances or dangerous equipment.

If your burn injury was caused by unsafe working conditions or failures in workplace safety procedures, you may be able to bring a compensation claim.

You usually have three years from the date of your accident to start a claim, as set out in the Limitation Act 1980. If the Claimant is under 18 years of age, they cannot make a claim themselves. An adult can claim on their behalf as a litigation friend. Once the Claimant turns 18 years old, they have until their 21st birthday to make a claim.

An interim payment is an advance payment from your compensation, available once the other side has accepted or is very likely to accept responsibility. For burn survivors, interim payments can fund plastic or reconstructive surgery, specialist nursing care, psychological treatment, home adaptations, and lost earnings without waiting for the claim to settle. Our focus is always on your well-being and recovery, therefore, we will push for interim payments and rehabilitation to be put in place as soon as possible.

Useful evidence includes medical records and hospital notes, photographs of your injuries taken at the time of the incident, as well as different stages of recovery, accident reports, fire service investigation reports, police reports, CCTV footage, witness statements, and records of your financial losses. We will guide you on exactly what is needed and take the lead in gathering it.

A lump sum payment can affect means-tested benefits if it is counted as capital. A Personal Injury Trust holds your award separately from your assets, so it falls outside benefit assessments. Our Court of Protection Solicitors can advise on whether a trust is appropriate and put one in place as part of your claim.

Call us on 0800 260 5010 or request a callback. A Burn Injury experts will carry out a free, confidential claim assessment, explain your options, and answer your questions. The first conversation carries no obligation to proceed with a claim.