Barnsley Borough Council - How To Sue For Compensation

This guide is here to help you if you have evidence of a valid claim against Barnsley Borough Council. We can assist you with a variety of claims. Not only could we help you with personal injury claims, but also housing disrepair claims, and data breach claims.

In short, you could make a claim for compensation if you have sustained an injury caused by negligence. Both physical and mental injuries can make you eligible.

We are here to help if you are confused. There are sections within this article that explain more thoroughly what each claim consists of. Get in touch if you want free legal advice at any point.

If you reach out, you’ll be under no obligation to proceed with the services of our panel of solicitors. You’ll find the relevant contact information below. Read on for more information.

Call us on 0800 408 7827
Contact us by sending a message through our website
Use the pop-up window in the corner to chat with our advisors in real-time

Select a Section

Claiming Against The Council For A Personal Injury
Filing Data Breach Claims Against A Local Council
How To File Housing Disrepair Claims Against The Local Council
Can I Make A No Win No Fee Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council?
How Long Would I Have To Make A Claim?
Get Advice On A Potential Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council
More Resources On Making A Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council

Claiming Against The Council For A Personal Injury

The initial stages of the personal injury claim process tend to focus on one question in particular. This is – was the injury caused by a breach of someone else’s duty of care?

The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that those in control of areas accessible to the public have an obligation to maintain the safety of the area. If there are hazards, then they must be rectified. Otherwise, those passing through could sustain otherwise avoidable injuries.

Local councils are not exempt from this legal responsibility. They must make sure any area they are responsible for is as safe as possible.

Slip, Trip And Fall Claims

You could claim compensation for injuries sustained in slips, trips and falls that were not your fault. For example, the pavements in a certain area of your town (that’s controlled by the council) may be damaged. If they caused someone to fall and sustain an injury, and the paving defect is raised by 1inch, then it’s possible you could make a claim for compensation.

This is similar for potholes that are not repaired within a reasonable timeframe on roads that are in the council’s control. A defect of more than 4cm deep could lead to cars being damaged and becoming difficult to control, leading to collision injuries.

Other Spaces Controlled By The Council

Councils can also be responsible for a number of other spaces and venues such as:

Play areas
Parks
Gyms
Libraries

Risks need to be regularly assessed and rectified if appropriate. The failure to do so could be considered negligence on the behalf of the council if you sustain an injury as a result.

Cuts And Lacerations

Some council properties may have certain additions to keep them secure. An example of this is barbed wire. Whilst it is legal to utilise barbed wire in certain circumstances, it must be properly maintained.

If loose or damaged barbed wire were to come into contact with members of the public then this could cause quite serious injuries.

Many injuries could be caused by the individual’s negligence and might not be due to a council’s failings. However, if you have evidence of a valid claim against Barnsley Borough Council, our advisors could help.

Potential Personal Injury Compensation Payouts

Your settlement amount following a successful personal injury claim can consist of two different heads of claim. Initially, there is the sum known as general damages. General damages are awarded to the injured party to account for both their physical and mental injuries. The amount is calculated by legal professionals. They do so with the assistance of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).

This is a publication that is made up primarily of a list of injuries that could occur as the result of negligence. There are guide figures alongside each entry that illustrate how much the injury could be worth in compensation.

It’s important to note that these figures are only guidelines. They can fluctuate depending on factors such as how severe the injuries are and how long they take to heal.

The compensation table below includes some example entries from the JCG. This is only a small excerpt, so don’t worry if you don’t see your injury represented. Our advisors can give you a free estimate of how your injuries might be valued.

Injury	Description	Amount
Chest	(c) When the chest and lung(s) are damaged, leading to some continued disability	£29,380 to £51,460
Neck	(a) Severe - (i) when the injury is associated with incomplete paraplegia or permanent spastic quadripesis	In the region of £139,210
Back	(c) Minor - (ii) you will have fully recovered in a timescale between 3 months and 1 year	£2,300 to £4,080
Back	(c) Minor - (iii) full recovery in 3 months	Up to £2,300
Shoulder	(c) Moderate - frozen shoulder and limited movement along with discomfort. Symptoms will persist for around 2 years	£7,410 to £11,980
Shoulder	(e) Clavicle fracture	£4,830 to £11,490
Arm	(b) (i) When one arm is completely lost - amputation at the shoulder	Not less than £128,710
Arm	(d) Simple forearm fractures	£6,190 to £18,020
Wrist	(d) when the fracture or injury to the soft tissue takes longer, but you make a complete recovery	Rarely exceed £9,620
Mental anguish	(e) When you fear that you may die or that your life expectancy is about to be reduced	£4,380

There is a second head of claim that can be added to general damages. For example, you may experience financial losses or additional expenditures as a result of your injuries. To illustrate, you may have been forced to take time off work and lost out on wages as a result. These sums are known as special damages.

To find out more about what else could be deemed eligible for reimbursement under special damages, get in touch with us today.

This article aims to examine the concept of a claim against Barnsley Borough Council. However, if you still have questions after reading, why not reach out?

Filing Data Breach Claims Against A Local Council

You could make a claim against a council if you have proof that their negligence has led to a data breach that has affected you mentally or financially. For those of you wondering “what is considered a data breach?”, let us explain.

A data breach is when personal information is lost, accessed, destroyed, disclosed or changed without permission or unlawfully. For example, you may have supplied your local council with information such as your email address or your home address. This personal data could be wrongfully accessed or exposed, leading to your distress.

Not all data breaches lead to claims. If the council’s positive wrongful conduct led to a data breach (for example, they failed to ensure adequate online security measures), and you suffered as a result, you could claim.

Simply experiencing a data breach is not enough for you to be eligible to receive data breach compensation. You need to have suffered material and/or non-material damages as a result.

Material And Non-Material Damages

Material damages relate to any financial loss that was caused by the data breach. For example, your bank details could have been compromised and used to purchase products and services without your permission. You could reclaim these losses if you have proof of them.

Non-material damages are a sum calculated to account for any mental damage caused by the data breach. To illustrate, you could have developed an anxiety disorder due to the financial distress the data breach has caused you. Non-material damages are calculated as they are in personal injury law.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) contains the legally binding safety requirements that all organisations that collect, hold and process personal data must take to ensure the security of the data provided to them. If all safety precautions are in place and a breach happens anyway, then it’s less likely that you’ll be able to claim.

More information can be found regarding an organisation’s legal duties regarding personal information in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Data Breach Examples

Whilst it is quite common nowadays for cyberattacks to be the cause for data breaches, they can also be caused by human error regarding personal information being poorly handled in either a physical or digital format.

Some examples include:

Personal data being sent to the wrong person who is unauthorised to access it
Paperwork being stolen/lost
Personal information not being redacted and being shared without a lawful reason
Disposal of personal information not being carried out correctly

If you have evidence of a valid claim against Barnsley Borough Council, why not get in touch today?

Data Breach Statistics

We have created a graph below that displays statistics regarding data security incident trends for local government. These figures have been collated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This is an independent UK body that imposes penalties for data breaches.

The figures below relate only to non-cyber data breaches.

How To File Housing Disrepair Claims Against The Local Council

If you live in a council house, then it can be the responsibility of the council to make repairs to your property. If the council unreasonably refuse to do so and you are injured as a result, then you could make a housing disrepair claim.

It’s important to note that you must have reported the disrepair to your landlord prior to the injury. If you don’t report the damage prior to the injury, it’s possible this could affect your claim.

The repairs in question should also relate to issues like the structure of the interior and/or exterior of the house. This includes energy installations like gas, electricity, and water.

For more information regarding your rights and what comes under the umbrella of housing disrepair, you can head to the government website to access the Housing Act 1988.

Can I Make A No Win No Fee Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council?

The lawyers on our panel can help you make a claim on a No Win No Fee basis. This means you don’t need to pay any upfront lawyer fees, and that you’re only required to cover your lawyer’s fees if they help you make a successful claim.

They’re then paid via a legally capped, small percentage taken from your settlement. This is known as a ‘success fee’.

If you don’t win your claim under a No Win No Fee agreement, then you won’t owe them any lawyer fees at all. An agreement such as this helps reduce the financial risk of funding a lawyer’s services.

How Long Would I Have To Make A Claim?

The various kinds of claims mentioned above have different time limits in which you must start your claim.

The Limitation Act 1980 tells us that for personal injury claims, you generally have 3 years from the date of the accident to start your claim.

However, if the injured party is a child (under 18), then their claim is suspended until they turn 18. Until then, their claim can only be made for them by a third party such as a parent or guardian. This representative is known as a litigation friend.

The time limit is also suspended should the injured individual lack the mental capacity to make a claim themselves. It only begins if and when they regain the ability to do so (from the date of recovery).

Additionally, if your injury is only detected or diagnosed as being caused by negligence further down the line, then this is known as the date of knowledge. You have 3 years from the date of knowledge, but you must be able to back it up with evidence such as medical records.

For data breach claims, you could only have 1 year to claim against a publicly-funded body such as a council. For privately-owned organisations, you could have 6 years to make a data breach claim.

In cases of injuries sustained due to housing disrepair, you could have 6 years from the date you’re injured to make a claim.

To ensure you are still within the time limit to claim, why not contact our advisors?

Get Advice On A Potential Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council

Call us on 0800 408 7827
Contact us by sending a message through our website
Use the pop-up window in the corner to chat with our advisors in real-time

More Resources On Making A Claim Against Barnsley Borough Council

We’ve included some helpful links regarding this and similar subjects.

How do I know if I’ve broken a bone? – NHS information.
Find out how to request CCTV footage of yourself to use as evidence.
Signs of an anxiety disorder – NHS information.

Guides On How To Sue The Local Council

Hopefully, you now know more about if you have a valid claim against Barnsley Borough Council.

Article by BIB

Edited by VIC

Barnsley Borough Council Compensation Claims Guide

Barnsley Borough Council – How To Sue For Compensation