If you’ve been assaulted at work you could claim compensation against your employer if they were negligent in their duty of care and didn’t take steps to protect you. You could also claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme if you’re been physically attacked and injured in a workplace assault. In this guide to assault at work compensation claims, we’ll show you when you could claim, how the claims process works, and the amount of compensation that could be paid.

Whether you’d like to make a CICA claim or a claim against your employer, we can help. If you call our claims advisors on 0800 6524 881 they’ll provide free advice on your options. Where there are grounds to claim compensation for workplace assault, we could appoint one of our personal injury solicitors to help you. They’ll do everything for you during the claim and work on a No Win No Fee basis so you won’t have to pay for their work unless you are compensated.

Our advisors are ready to help you right away. If you’d like to begin your assault at work claim today, please call the number above. Alternatively, please continue reading if you’d like to find out more first.

Understanding Your Rights If You’ve Been Assaulted At Work

All employees have a right to work in a risk-free environment and to return home uninjured at the end of the workday. In order to safeguard the rights of workers, UK law requires that all employers conduct a thorough risk assessment of the workplace and accordingly put measures in place to keep their workers safe from risks, including assault or any other act of violence. Employers who neglect this aspect may be held liable if any employee or worker is injured in a workplace assault or attack.

Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation For Assault At Work?

As our solicitors provide a No Win No Fee service, they need to check whether an assault at work compensation claim is likely to be successful before accepting it. For this reason, they’ll check whether:

• Your employer breached their duty of care towards you in some way; and
• As a result, you were assaulted at work; and
• You were injured during the incident.

For CICA claims, they’ll check whether you reported the crime to the police and the incident happened in the last 2-years.

Evidence To Support Your Assault At Work Claim

In the section that follows, we’ll look at some scenarios that could lead to compensation for assault at work, but before we do, let’s look at the evidence you could obtain to support your compensation claim. Some examples include:

• Medical reports. These are a crucial part of any assault claim. As a result, we’d suggest that you always seek medical treatment at A&E or a minor injuries unit if you’re assaulted at work. Later on, you could ask for a copy of your medical notes as they’ll show the extent of your physical injuries.
• Report the assault to your employer. Write an account of the workplace assault in the company accident/log book and also inform your employer, supervisor or HR manager.
• File a crime report at the nearest police station. This is something many victims of assault overlook because they think it’s not necessary. However, depending on the circumstances, you may need to file your claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority scheme and they’ll require a police report to consider workplace assault claims.
• Details of any witnesses. If anybody else such as work colleagues or visitors saw the assault take place, it’s a good idea to write down their contact details. Where needed, your solicitor might contact them for a statement of what they saw later on.
• CCTV or other footage. Where the assault on you was recorded, it is a good idea to secure a copy of the footage. This can make it much easier to show what led to the assault occurring.
• Finally, we’d advise you to keep a record by photographing any visible injuries during your recovery.

After you have secured evidence, or you need help in doing so, you may want to call our accident claims helpline. We can review your evidence with you and check whether you’re eligible to claim compensation. If your case appears to have strong grounds, one of our personal injury solicitors could begin working on your case right away.

When Could I Claim Workplace Assault Compensation?

You may be wondering how your employer might have been responsible if you were assaulted in the workplace? According to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers need to protect the welfare of their staff while in the workplace. Therefore, if you’ve been physically attacked at work they could be responsible for your injuries if:

• You weren’t trained on how to diffuse dangerous situations when it was known you worked with potentially violent people (carers, medical staff, nightclub door staff etc).
• Your employer failed to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Again, if your role involves working with violent, difficult, or angry customers or patients, PPE might be issued as a last resort. This could include items like panic alarms and stab vests.
• You were understaffed at the time you were assaulted. Examples here include security guards, carers assaulted by a resident, or prison officers who are particularly vulnerable to being assaulted at work if they don’t have the support of colleagues.
• Where you’ve been assaulted by a work colleague after expressing concerns to your employer regarding their behaviour towards you, and nothing was done to address those concerns.

These are just some of the reasons why assault at work compensation claims could be directed at employers.

Common Forms Of Workplace Assaults

Nobody should have to go to work and suffer being assaulted in the workplace. Most of us spend a major part of our day at work and while we may not expect that the whole day will go smoothly, the thought of being assaulted never crosses our mind. Unfortunately, with increasing stress levels in the workplace, the incidence of assaults has also increased in recent years.

Workplace assaults are not limited to just physical attacks. Common forms of assault come in a variety of ways and can include:

• Pushing, kicking, slapping, scratching, or otherwise physically attacking another person.
• Punching a colleague in the mouth causing a broken jaw.
• Being verbally abusive and calling a person names.
• Shouting and yelling at another person in an intimidating manner.
• Verbally threatening to hurt or kill a person, their family, or friends.
• Making threats to stab.
• Interacting with another person aggressively, which includes spitting at the person, pulling their hair, or staring at them menacingly.
• Threatening to demote or sack an employee for filing an official report or voicing a complaint.

Common Injuries From Workplace Assaults

If your employer is found to be liable for the assault against you, it’s possible to claim for any injury. Some of the more common include:

• Broken jaws.
• Concussion and other types of injury to the head.
• Bruises and soft tissue damage.
• Psychological injuries including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
• Fractured or broken bones.
• Penetrating wounds from being stabbed.

If you believe your injuries were caused because your employer failed to adequately protect you, please get in touch to see if we could help you claim.

Occupations That Are At More Risk Of Workplace Assaults

We’ve mentioned a few of these occupations already but some of the more common roles that could be at more risk of workplace assaults include:

If you have decided to pursue a personal injury claim after being assaulted at work, we can help you now. One quick call could be all it takes for us to instruct a specialist solicitor to start working on your claim right away.

Consequences Of Being Assaulted In The Workplace

While in most cases physical injuries resulting from workplace violence are immediately obvious, what many people tend to ignore are the psychological effects, not just on the victim but also on all of the other workers. Being a victim of a physical attack in the workplace or witnesses to such an incident can have far-reaching consequences that affect employers, employees, and the company itself.

As a victim of an assault at work, you are more likely to be more stressed and tense in your workplace in the future. This can affect your productivity and morale at first but as time goes on it could eventually impact your overall health. Your medical report may account for this under your future prognosis, for which your solicitor would take into account when calculating settlement amounts.

How Much Compensation For Assault At Work Could I Claim?

As there isn’t a pre-determined amount set for assault at work compensation you could claim. Therefore, your solicitor will base how much to claim on two different heads of loss:

• General damages. In this element of the claim, you’ll claim for any pain and suffering you’ve endured. Importantly, this can include any mental harm as well as any physical injuries. That means you could claim for distress, anxiety or depression caused by the assault.
• Special damages. If you’ve incurred costs or expenses as a result of the assault, you could claim them back. For example, your solicitor could help you to recover any lost income or medical expenses.

In general, you may be eligible to claim compensation for any of the following:

• Physical injuries or impairment;
• Mental trauma;
• Loss of income;
• Loss of earning capacity;
• Medical expenses;
• Any future medical expenses;
• Repair of damaged property;
• Replacement of damaged property;
• Loss of irreplaceable items;
• Lower quality of life.

Importantly, you may need a medical assessment as part of your claim. Try not to worry about this. It will involve a meeting (usually locally) with a medical specialist who’ll review your injuries and provide a report for all parties involved in the claim.

Assault At Work Compensation Calculator

If you’re wondering what payout amount you could receive for your injuries, the compensation calculator table below should help. It is based on figures for general damages from the Judicial College as these are typically used by legal professionals when determining how much compensation to award. These amounts are used for personal injury claims. CICA claims use a separate tariff of injuries which our solicitors can explain if that’s the way in which your claim is made.

How Long Do I Have To Make An Assault At Work Claim?

It is important to note that any type of compensation claim for workplace assault will have a time limit. The following apply:

• 3 years from the date of the assault for personal injury claims against your employer.
• 2 years from when you reported the crime to the police in CICA claims.

*Different limits apply for those under 18 so please speak to our advisors who’ll be happy to advise.

While this 2 or 3 years may seem like a long time, there are several tasks that your solicitor will need to complete before filing your claim. Therefore, our advice is to begin your claim as early as possible to give them plenty of time to gather evidence and arrange for medical reports as possible.

Claiming Assault At Work Compensation Using A Personal Injury Solicitor

If you make an assault at work claim against your employer (or through the CICA scheme) for an assault at work, you will need to prove what happened, who was to blame, and what injuries you sustained. If you can’t do this, you may miss out on some or all of the compensation you might be entitled to.

We believe you stand a much better chance of being fairly compensated if you have our personal injury solicitors representing you. If your case is accepted by one of our specialist solicitors, they’ll try to do everything they can to secure the maximum compensation possible. That includes:

• Collecting evidence.
• Arranging a medical assessment.
• Filing a professional and concise claim.
• Managing communication with the defendant (or more likely their insurer).
• Handling any objections and trying to counter them for you.
• Keeping you up to date.
• Reviewing any settlement offers with you before accepting them.

We’re ready to help if you’d like to start a claim. To get in touch and discuss your options, please call 0800 6524 881 today. If your assault at work compensation claim is accepted, we’ll ask a No Win No Fee solicitor to begin working on it straight away.