Pain and suffering
You can seek an award for your physical injuries, including scarring or other disfigurement as well as psychological injury. Obviously, the amount that you receive in compensation will vary according to the severity of your injuries but unlike a court, the CICA has a Tariff of awards for certain injuries.  To allow us to assess the appropriate Tariff award we always have to obtain a medical report, usually from a specialist.

Loss of earnings
If you have to take time off work because of an accident, you will be able to recover any loss of earnings after the first twenty six weeks of absence.  Your claim is based upon the amount which you would have taken home rather than your gross earnings.  You will not pay tax on your award of damages.

Normally your claim for loss of earnings is based upon your average take-home pay during the 3-month period before the accident.  While we will obtain a schedule of earnings from your employer it can be helpful if you retain pay slips for the period before the assault and for the period of absence so that we can check these against the information provided by your employer.

Future loss of earnings
You are under a general duty if you have been injured to minimise your losses.  This means that if you are unable to return to your old job you have to take all reasonable steps to find a job which you are capable of doing.  If you have to give up work because of the assault this may affect your future pension entitlement.  Again we can take this into account and include any loss of pension rights in your claim.