Birth injury compensation is often the most financially significant category of clinical negligence claim in England and Wales. Understanding how it is assessed, what drives the total figure, and how funding works helps families make informed decisions about whether and how to proceed.
This page explains the framework clearly and without obligation. If you want to know where your family stands, the initial assessment at AAA Solicitors is free.
What does birth injury compensation cover?
Birth injury compensation covers two distinct heads of loss: general damages and special damages. General damages compensate for the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused by the injury. Special damages compensate for actual financial losses, both those already incurred and those projected into the future.
In minor or moderate birth injury cases, the two heads may be broadly comparable in value. In serious cases involving permanent disability and a lifetime of care needs, special damages, particularly future care costs, typically dwarf the general damages figure. A child who requires around-the-clock professional care for 60 or 70 years generates a care schedule that can reach several million pounds on its own, before any other financial losses are added.
Both heads must be proved by evidence. General damages are assessed against the Judicial College Guidelines, which set published brackets by injury type and severity. Special damages are built from the ground up using a Schedule of Loss, drawing on employment records, expert care assessments, actuarial evidence, and specialist reports.
How much birth injury compensation can you claim?
The amount you can claim depends entirely on the specific harm suffered and the financial losses it has caused. There is no fixed figure for any category of birth injury: the Judicial College Guidelines brackets are starting points, not outcomes, and special damages vary enormously between cases.
A claim for a minor injury, such as temporary Erb's palsy that resolves fully within months, will look very different from a claim for severe hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) leaving a child with lifelong complex disabilities. The birth injury page on this site sets out the common injury types. For an estimate specific to your situation, the only reliable approach is a free assessment with a specialist who can review the facts and the records.
General damages for birth injuries: the Judicial College Guidelines framework
General damages for birth injuries are assessed against the Judicial College Guidelines, which courts and practitioners treat as a reference framework. The 18th edition, published in April 2026, includes an uplift of approximately 8.26% from the previous edition to reflect increases in the Retail Prices Index to August 2025.
According to 18th edition analysis published by Keoghs, the current brackets for brain damage are:
- Very severe brain damage (significant physical and cognitive disability, full-time care, no or minimal meaningful communication): £372,570 to £533,720 in general damages
- Moderately severe brain damage (substantial disability, some self-awareness, some capacity for meaningful response): £289,420 to £372,570 in general damages
The actual figure within any bracket depends on the claimant's age, degree of disability, level of retained insight, and long-term prognosis. A younger claimant with greater retained awareness will generally attract a higher award within the bracket than an older claimant with minimal awareness. The Judicial College Guidelines are the authoritative reference for all courts and practitioners.
These are general damages figures only. They do not include any element of special damages. In most serious birth injury cases, special damages represent the larger part of the total award.
Birth injury claims and total value: why the figures are so large
Birth injury claims carry the highest values in the clinical negligence system because catastrophic birth injuries generate lifetime care needs starting from infancy.
According to NHS Resolution, obstetric claims represented 11% of new clinical negligence claims in 2024-25 but accounted for over half of the total value paid. The total clinical negligence spend in 2024-25 was £3.6 billion, of which maternity claims accounted for approximately £1.3 billion. High-value claims of £1 million or more represented just 2% of all claims but generated 68% of total costs.
The explanation is straightforward. A child born with HIE or cerebral palsy who requires full-time professional care, adapted housing, specialist equipment, and therapeutic support over a 60- or 70-year life generates a future losses schedule that no other category of claim approaches. Adding a lifetime care expert, an employment expert to quantify lost future earnings, and actuarial projections produces a Schedule of Loss that can run to tens of millions of pounds in the most serious cases.
How much compensation for cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy compensation awards are among the largest in the clinical negligence system because the injury typically involves permanent, severe disability and a lifetime of high-cost care. General damages fall within the brain damage brackets of the Judicial College Guidelines: very severe cases up to £533,720 in general damages alone, moderately severe up to £372,570.
The total award is almost always substantially higher than the general damages figure. NHS Resolution data indicates that obstetric brain injury cases average £11.2 million to settle, reflecting the future care costs, adapted housing, and lifetime earnings that dominate the Schedule of Loss.
For families with a child who has cerebral palsy that may have been caused by negligent care during pregnancy or delivery, legal aid may also be available as an alternative to a CFA (see the section below). If you want to understand your family's position, the free assessment at AAA Solicitors gives you concrete information without any commitment. You can check your claim using the form on this site.
Erb's palsy and brachial plexus injury compensation
Erb's palsy involves damage to the brachial plexus nerve group at the shoulder during delivery, and it produces a wide range of outcomes with a corresponding range of compensation values.
At the less serious end, where the injury is partial and the child makes a substantial or full recovery within months, general damages will be modest and special damages limited. Where the injury results in permanent and complete paralysis of the arm with no prospect of improvement, general damages are considerably higher and the special damages schedule will include occupational therapy costs, adaptive equipment, and any impact on future earning capacity.
The Judicial College Guidelines contain brackets for brachial plexus injury by severity level. The 18th edition figures for this specific category were not reproduced in publicly available sources reviewed for this article, and should be confirmed with a specialist solicitor rather than estimated from secondary sources. What the framework confirms is that severity, age, and long-term consequences determine where within the applicable bracket the award falls. A specialist will advise on the likely range for your child's specific injury after reviewing the medical records and expert evidence.
What does the 25% success fee mean for your birth injury compensation?
Under a Conditional Fee Agreement, the success fee is capped at 25% of your general damages and past financial losses by the CFA Order 2013. Future losses are entirely excluded from the cap and paid to you in full.
To illustrate: if general damages are £300,000 and past financial losses are £50,000, the maximum success fee on those two heads is £87,500 (25% of £350,000). If future care costs and other future losses amount to £2 million, that entire sum is protected and paid in full. Your net receipt in that example would be £262,500 from general damages and past losses, plus £2 million in future losses.
After the event (ATE) insurance premiums, which cover the cost of expert reports and disbursements if the claim had failed, are also typically deducted from a successful award. Your solicitor must explain all deductions in writing before you sign a CFA. The CFA funding guide on this site covers every element in plain terms, including what the cap means in practice for different claim values.
Is legal aid available for birth injury claims?
Legal aid is available for a specific category of birth injury claim under LASPO 2012. To qualify, the claim must be for a severe neurological injury caused by clinical negligence that occurred during pregnancy, at birth, or within eight weeks of birth. The child must also have been born at or after the 37th week of pregnancy.
Where legal aid is granted, the financial assessment is based on the child's own means, not the parents'. In practice, this means the means test is rarely an obstacle. The Legal Aid Agency also applies a merits test: the claim must have good prospects of success. The solicitor representing the child must hold Legal Aid Agency approval as a specialist in cerebral palsy and child brain injury, as confirmed in guidance from AvMA and Ashtons Legal.
For all other birth injury claims, including maternal injury claims and cases where the child's neurological injury falls outside the legal aid criteria, a CFA is the standard funding route. AAA Solicitors advises on both funding routes as part of the initial free assessment.
How long do you have to make a birth injury compensation claim?
For a child's own claim, the three-year limitation period does not begin until the child's 18th birthday, giving until their 21st birthday to issue proceedings under section 28 of the Limitation Act 1980. A parent or litigation friend can start the claim on the child's behalf at any point before that, and doing so earlier is strongly advisable.
Acting earlier matters for several concrete reasons. Medical records are more complete when obtained promptly. Clinicians' recollections are clearer. Expert witnesses are easier to identify and instruct. In cases where liability is admitted or becomes clear at an early stage, an earlier instruction also opens the door to interim payments, which can fund urgent care and adaptations without waiting years for a final settlement.
For maternal injuries suffered during labour or delivery, the standard three-year rule applies from the date of the injury or the date of knowledge. If you are unsure whether your three-year period has started or how much time remains, a free assessment at AAA Solicitors resolves that question at no cost.
Starting a birth injury compensation claim
If you believe a birth injury was caused by clinical negligence, speaking to a specialist is the most useful action you can take. The causation evidence in birth injury cases, particularly in HIE and cerebral palsy claims, requires expert review, and the earlier that process begins the stronger your position.
AAA Solicitors handles all categories of birth injury claim in England and Wales, including cerebral palsy, HIE, Erb's palsy, shoulder dystocia, and maternal injury, on a no win no fee basis. The initial assessment is free and commits you to nothing. You can check your claim using the online form, or call to speak with a specialist directly. The claims process guide covers every stage from first instruction to settlement.
Reading this costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. The only cost of not calling is not knowing what your family is entitled to.