Belfast Personal Injury Compensation Calculator

Pick the injury and how serious it is. If they apply, add a share of blame or any lost earnings. The tool shows the typical range of general damages, which is the money for the injury, pain and the impact on your life. It then adjusts that range for any shared blame and can add a rough figure for lost earnings. Treat it as a guide, not a valuation.

Every figure above comes straight from the published brackets in the Northern Ireland Green Book (Sixth Edition), which has applied since 8 April 2024. For the most minor injuries the guidelines give a top figure only, which is why some brackets read “Up to” an amount instead of a range. These are guideline figures, not an offer or a promise of any award. Every case is decided on its own facts.

How Compensation Is Assessed in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland values personal injury claims its own way, separate from England and Wales and from the Republic of Ireland. Awards here are generally higher than in England and Wales. This goes back to a time when juries, rather than judges, decided the amounts.

The starting point is the Green Book, published by the Judicial Studies Board for Northern Ireland. It sets out a range, or bracket, for each type and severity of injury. You can view the official guidelines on the Judiciary NI website.

The brackets are wide on purpose. That leaves room to reflect things like your age, how long you take to recover and how the injury affects your daily life. As the guidelines say themselves, they are an aid, not a fixed formula. This is why a calculator can only ever give a range.

General Damages and Special Damages

Compensation in a personal injury claim usually has two parts. Our calculator estimates the first part, general damages, and lets you add a rough figure for lost earnings from the second part.

Special damages can add up to a lot, especially if the injury stops you working. They are worked out from evidence like payslips, receipts and medical reports, so a quick calculator cannot estimate them.

How Long Do You Have to Make a Claim?

In most personal injury cases in Northern Ireland, you have three years to claim. The clock usually starts on the date of the accident, or the date you first realised your injury was linked to it. This comes from the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

There are some important exceptions. For children, the three years usually starts on their eighteenth birthday. Some claims work differently, and a few, such as hearing loss caused at work, start from when you first knew about the problem. Missing the deadline can end a claim for good, so it is best to get advice early rather than wait.

What Affects the Value of Your Claim

Two people with what sounds like the same injury can receive very different awards. The calculator gives a bracket, but where you fall within it depends on the detail.

• How severe the injury is and how long recovery takes
• Whether there is any permanent symptom, weakness or scarring
• The effect on your work, hobbies and day to day life
• Whether there is more than one injury
• Your age and general health before the accident
• The strength of the medical and supporting evidence

A medical report sits at the heart of almost every claim. It sets out the injury, the treatment and the likely long-term outlook, and it is the main document used to place your injury in the right bracket.

Common Personal Injury Claims in Belfast

Campbell & Haughey act for people across Belfast and Northern Ireland in a wide range of accident and injury claims. The most common types we are asked about are set out below.

For more detail on specific claims, see our guides on what to do after a car accident, accidents at work in Belfast, whiplash claims in Belfast and hearing loss claims in Belfast.

If your injury happened at work specifically, our dedicated workplace injury calculator for Belfast focuses on accident at work claims in more detail.

Examples of Settlements We Have Secured

Guideline brackets are one thing. Real outcomes are another. The examples below are anonymised results from our own accident and injury work in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. They show how the injury, the losses and the circumstances come together into a final figure, which is always more than the Green Book number on its own.

These are genuine past results and every case is different. Past outcomes are not a promise or prediction of what any future claim will achieve, as each one turns on its own injuries, evidence and circumstances.

Accidents and Claims in Belfast

Belfast is the busiest part of Northern Ireland for traffic, work and daily life, so it sees a large share of the region’s accidents. Across Northern Ireland in 2024, the police recorded 4,753 injury road traffic collisions. These led to 69 deaths, 939 people seriously injured and 6,486 slightly injured, according to PSNI road traffic collision statistics. Figures for workplace injuries are published separately by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland.

Most claims settle by negotiation, long before anyone sees a courtroom. If a claim does need to go to court, Belfast cases are usually heard at the County Court at Laganside, or in the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice for higher-value claims. The County Court handles claims up to its set limit, and larger claims start in the High Court.

How a Personal Injury Claim Works

1. Get any necessary medical treatment and keep a record of what happened
2. Speak to a solicitor to check whether you have a claim and the time limit
3. Your solicitor gathers evidence, including a medical report and your losses
4. A formal claim is sent to the person or insurer responsible
5. Liability is investigated and the value of the claim is assessed
6. Most claims settle by negotiation, with court only if needed
7. Compensation is paid once settlement or a court award is reached

Many personal injury claims are settled without ever going to court. If court is needed, your solicitor guides you through each step. You can read more about our litigation, accident and injury work, and about public liability claims in Northern Ireland.

Frequently Asked Questions