By Jade Mooney. Last Updated 28th August 2025. To claim post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compensation, you must be able to show how the condition developed due to the negligent actions of a third party. Compensation not only considers the impact on your mental health and quality of life, but also any financial losses you suffered due to PTSD. Those losses can include the cost of counselling sessions and medications. You will usually need to start your personal injury claim within 3 years of the accident, and you can pursue compensation using a No Win No Fee solicitor. PTSD compensation can depend on the severity of the condition, ranging from £4,820 to £9,980 for less severe cases to £73,050 to £122,850 for severe forms.
Suffering from PTSD can be deeply debilitating for a person. In this guide, we cover everything related to making a PTSD compensation claim. We discuss the potential causes, such as workplace accidents, military service, a car accident and other traumatic events.
You can also find details on the requirements to make a psychological injury claim and discover potential post-traumatic stress disorder payouts.
We appreciate that not everyone likes to read, so we offer a free case check over the phone if this is what you’d prefer.
We can advise you on your legal rights, potential settlements and, if you’d like to make a PTSD claim, we can connect you with one of our specialist personal injury solicitors.
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- Giving us a call on 0800 073 8804
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To learn more about how to claim PTSD compensation, please keep reading. You can also watch our video which gives you the key points from the guide:
Am I Eligible To Receive PTSD Compensation?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder which often occurs due to a traumatic event in a person’s life. It can last for a month to a couple of years in extreme cases. In the worst cases, it may even be permanent. This disorder manifests itself in the form of panic attacks and flashbacks of the traumatic incident.
Before seeking PTSD compensation, it’s necessary to check whether you have an eligible claim. Before discussing the conditions necessary for such a claim, it’s important to understand the concept of duty of care.
There may be a situation where somebody else is responsible for your well-being and has to take reasonable steps in pursuance of the same. This responsibility is known as their duty of care.
Therefore, in order to claim post-traumatic stress disorder compensation, you must prove the following:
- Somebody had a duty of care towards you.
- They breached this duty of care.
- You suffered a psychological injury as a result of this breach.
For more information on post-traumatic stress disorder claims, continue to read our guide or speak to our advisors for a free case assessment.
Time Limits For PTSD Claims
If you would like to begin a PTSD compensation claim, you must start legal proceedings within the limitation period. This time limit is 3 years and is set by the Limitation Act 1980.
These 3 years commence from the date of the accident that caused your PTSD.
However, the time limit is paused for injured parties who:
- Are under 18 years old.
- Don’t have the mental capacity to make a PTSD claim.
While the time limit is paused, a litigation friend can start legal proceedings on the injured party’s behalf.
However, if a litigation friend hasn’t started legal proceedings by the time the injured party:
- Turns 18.
- Recovers their mental capacity.
Then the standard time limit will commence.
Call our advisors to ensure that you begin claiming compensation for PTSD within the limitation period.
How Could You Suffer PTSD?
As previously discussed, you can develop PTSD following a variety of different traumatic events. These include:
- An accident at work. You could suffer a life-changing physical injury in a workplace accident, such as a traumatic amputation, experience a near-miss or witness a colleague sustaining a fatal injury and develop PTSD as a result.
- A road traffic accident. As with workplace accidents, you could suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in a road traffic accident. For example, if you are severely injured in a car accident and the injury has a significant impact on your life, it could lead to you experiencing psychological harm as well. Alternatively, you could be hit by a car as a pedestrian, suffering very serious spinal injuries leading to paralysis, which has a knock-on effect on your mental health. Finally, you could witness a loved one suffer fatal injuries in a road traffic accident.
- An accident in a public place. Experiencing PTSD could also occur following a public liability accident. For example, you could witness a fatal accident in a supermarket in which someone falls from a height. Similarly, you could slip and fall in a supermarket and suffer a serious brain injury, which brings with it symptoms of PTSD.
Contact one of our advisors to discuss whether you might be eligible for PTSD compensation.
What Impact Could PTSD Have On Your Life?
PTSD can have a devastating impact on your life, causing severe physical, mental, and financial effects.
In terms of physical and mental impacts, PTSD can cause:
- Panic attacks.
- Nightmares.
- Flashbacks.
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
These symptoms can completely remove your ability to work, socialise, and enjoy things like hobbies. Loss of enjoyment is also known as loss of amenity, and this can be included as part of the general damages head of your claim.
The inability to work can have serious financial effects. For example, if you are unable to work, even temporarily, this can lead to lost earnings. In some cases, you may never be able to work again, resulting in a lifetime of lost income. This is something that PTSD claims can help you with, since lost earnings can be included under special damages.
If you’d like to find out if you could be entitled to make a post-traumatic stress disorder compensation claim, contact our helpful team today. Or, you can keep reading to learn more about the claiming process.
What Is The Treatment For PTSD?
There are different types of treatments that can help those with PTSD. These include:
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – this type of treatment can help you come to accept what’s happened. It can also help ease you back into activities that you may have avoided doing since the accident. For example, driving again after being in a car accident.
- Group psychotherapy – it may benefit you to learn from others’ experiences of PTSD.
- Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) – this is where patients keep their eyes on hand movements from a therapist while thinking about their traumatic experience. This can help the patient process their memories and have fewer negative thoughts regarding their trauma.
- Medication, such as anti-depressants – this type of treatment is often only prescribed if none of the above therapy types benefit the patient. Medication can be effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD.
Sometimes, treatment for PTSD through the NHS may be unavailable or have a long waiting list. For this reason, many people pay for private treatment with their PTSD compensation. Due to counselling and therapy costs often being expensive, PTSD compensation can make a huge difference during your recovery.
Contact us today to confirm whether you’re eligible to begin a PTSD claim for compensation. Our solicitors can connect you with the appropriate rehabilitation specialists as part of your compensation claim.
What Evidence Do I Need To Make A Claim For PTSD Compensation?
Evidence is crucial when pursuing compensation for PTSD. The right evidence can help support numerous areas of your claim, including showing the severity of your PTSD, how it occurred, and who is responsible.
One of the benefits of working with a solicitor throughout the psychological traumatic claims process is that they can help you collect evidence and find other relevant ways of strengthening your claim.
Some examples of evidence that you could use to support a claim for PTSD include:
- Medical records: Your medical records can provide more details about the severity of your PTSD symptoms and the way it affects your life. Your medical records may also contain details about what psychological treatment you require. You may also be able to submit a letter from a psychiatrist or therapist with further information about your psychological injury caused by the traumatic experience.
- Witness statements: While you can’t take witness statements yourself, you can take their details so a professional can take their statement at a later date. This could include people who witnessed the traumatic event that caused your PTSD, or the effect the psychological trauma has had on you.
- Symptoms diary: Keeping a diary of how your psychological injury has affected you and your life could also be useful. You may also include details about your medical treatment.
These are only a few examples of evidence that you could use to support your claim. To learn more about claiming PTSD compensation payouts, or to find out if you could be eligible to make a compensation claim for an anxiety disorder, contact our team of advisors today.
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Compensation For PTSD – How Much Could You Receive?
Post-traumatic stress disorder compensation can be made up of two heads of claim called general and special damages. Every PTSD claim will include general damages as these compensate you for the injuries you have suffered. This includes physical and psychological damage.
PTSD compensation can also include financial losses, which are called special damages. These are potentially claimable if your injury causes them, e.g. time away from work because of your symptoms.
Looking at general damages first, an independent medical report can be obtained that will assess some of the factors of the injuries, such as how severe they are and how long the symptoms are expected to last. Such factors can influence the size of any settlement.
In addition to a report, those calculating personal injury damages can use a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This text outlines a range of injuries and their corresponding suggested compensation guideline brackets.
Compensation Guideline Amounts
You can find some JCG brackets below. However, please note that the figure in the first bullet point is not taken from the JCG and that none of these brackets can be guaranteed for your PTSD claim.
- For severe mental harm, with financial losses like therapy costs, the compensation award could possibly be up to £250,000+.
- For severe (a) psychological damage, the compensation award could range from £66,920 to £141,240.
- For moderately severe (b) psychological damage, the compensation award can range from £23,270 to £66,920.
- For moderate (c) psychological damage, the compensation award could possibly range from £7,150 to £23,270.
- For less severe (d) psychological damage, the compensation award could possibly range from £1,880 to £7,150.
- For severe (a) PTSD, payouts can range from £73,050 to £122,850.
- For moderately severe (b) PTSD, payouts may possibly range from £28,250 to £73,050.
- For moderate (c) PTSD, payouts can range from £9,980 to £28,250.
- For less severe (d) PTSD, compensation may range from £4,820 to £9,980.
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What Are Special Damages?
The second head of claim is known as special damages. This heading covers the financial losses caused by your PTSD, and can include the cost of:
- Lost earnings due to taking time off work to recover.
- Counselling, including cognitive behavioural therapy and other costs towards PTSD treatment.
- Prescriptions and other costs towards medical treatment.
- Travel costs.
These are just a few examples of expenses that could be covered under special damages if you claim compensation for PTSD.
When claiming under this heading, you must be able to provide proof of your losses, which could come in the form of bank statements or receipts.
To learn more about claiming compensation for a psychological injury such as PTSD, contact our team of advisors today. They can evaluate your claim for free, and could potentially put you in contact with one of our solicitors.
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Claim Compensation For PTSD With Legal Expert
If you are eligible to make a personal injury claim for PTSD compensation, one of our solicitors could help you. They could help you with gathering evidence, arranging an independent medical assessment and providing you with more information on compensation payouts for PTSD. Additionally, they may offer to represent you on a No Win No Fee basis under a Conditional Fee Agreement.
When claiming with a solicitor under this arrangement, you will not need to pay them any upfront or ongoing fees for their services. Furthermore, you will not need to pay such solicitor fees for the work they have done on your case should your claim fail.
Should your claim win, your solicitor will take a success fee, which is deducted from your compensation. This is a small percentage with a legal cap, and is payment for their services.
To learn more about how our solicitors could help you with your PTSD claim, contact our team today.
Our advisors can offer a free consultation in which they can offer advice. They can also potentially connect you with one of our solicitors. To get started:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Write to us using our contact us form
- Use the live chat feature
Here are some more guides from our website:
- Our guide on zoo accident claims.
- Information on office accident claims.
- Details on funfair accident claims.
You can also go through these external links from across the web:
- Guidance from the NHS on mental health.
- Details from the government on well-being and mental health.
Thank you for reading our guide on claiming PTSD compensation.