Claim Against Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council – How To Sue For Compensation

If you are wondering when a potential claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council could be made, this guide might be beneficial to you. If you’ve been injured as a result of negligence, you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council

A guide to making a claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council

This article will provide guidance on how to make a claim for an injury in a public place. We will also look at the process of claiming compensation for a data breach and for injuries caused by housing disrepair.

For further guidance regarding your claim against your local council, you can speak to one of our advisors. If they feel your claim is valid, they could connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.

To get in touch, you can:

Select a Section

  1. How Might Someone File A Personal Injury Claim Against A Council?
  2. Filing A Data Breach Claim For Compensation Against A Local Council
  3. Local Council Housing Disrepair Claims
  4. Can I Make A No Win No Fee Claim Against Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council?
  5. Making A Claim Within The Time Limit
  6. Get Advice On A Potential Claim Against Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council
  7. More Resources On Making A Claim Against Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council

How Might Someone File A Personal Injury Claim Against A Council?

You may be able to make a personal injury claim if you can prove that you were harmed in an accident caused by to your local council breaching their duty of care. Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, the party in control of a space has a duty to do all they reasonably can to protect your safety and well-being when using the space. For your local council, this could include parks, footpaths, libraries and beaches, for example.

Some examples of how your local council could breach their duty of care, resulting in injury, include:

  • A slip or trip accident in a library caused by a spillage that has not been dealt with in a reasonable timeframe. Accidents like these can cause a break or fracture injuries such as a broken foot or broken forearm.
  • Your local council hasn’t been regularly maintaining the equipment at your local public park. You sit on a bench, and it collapses beneath you, causing you to suffer from a broken hip.

In order for a claim against the council to be valid, you must prove that you suffered an injury in a preventable accident due to them breaching their duty of care. If you’d like to know whether you have a valid case, speak with an advisor today.

Potential Personal Injury Compensation Payouts

When making a personal injury claim, your settlement may be divided into special and general damages.

Any monetary losses you have suffered as a result of your injuries may be compensated as special damages. Any mental distress or physical injuries that have affected your quality of life may be compensated as general damages. In order to make a claim for special and/or general damages, you must be able to supply proof that you suffered harm as a direct result of your accident. This can be a medical report with any diagnosis and treatments and taxi receipts to the hospital as you were unable to drive.

In addition to this, legal professionals can use a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help value your personal injury claim. This is because the JCG provides compensation brackets for different injuries. Using the 16th edition of the JCG, we have provided a table of compensation brackets for various injuries. These figures should only be used as a guideline.

InjuryGuideline Compensation Amount
Back Injuries - (a) Severe (i)£91,090 - £160,980
Brain and Head Injury - (b) Moderate (ii)£90,720 - £150,110
Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips - (a) Severe (i)£78,400 - £130,930
Knee Injuries - (a) Severe (i)£69,730 - £96,210
Foot Injuries - (e) Serious£24,990 - £39,200
Leg Injuries - (b) Severe (ii)£54,830 - £87,890
Wrist Injuries - (b)£24,500 - £39,170
Other Arm Injuries - (c) Less severe£19,200 - £39,170
Hand Injuries - (h) Moderate£5,720 - £13,280
Shoulder Injuries - (c) Moderate£4,350 - £7,890

For more guidance on how much a potential personal injury claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council could be worth, speak with a member of our team today.

Filing A Data Breach Claim For Compensation Against A Local Council

Local authorities may need to collect and retain a wide variety of personal data for a rang of different purposes. Personal data is any processed information that can be used to identify you either alone or in combination with other information.

Some examples of the personal information your local council could keep are:

  • Your name and address.
  • Contact number and email address.
  • Bank details if you pay rent and/or council tax by Direct Debit.

A personal data breach could happen if an organisation is not taking sufficient steps to protect personal data. A data breach is a security event that leads to the unlaw or accidental alteration, loss, or unauthorised disclosure of or access to, personal data. They can cause both emotional and financial harm.

The ICO and GDPR

An independent authority called the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is responsible for upholding data protection rights for individuals. These laws seek to offer you more protection and rights over the way your data is used, stored, shared and collected.

Those laws are the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

However, in order to make a claim against the local council for a data breach, you must prove a few things. First, you must prove that due to their failings, your personal data was exposed. You also need to show that, as a result of this, you have suffered mentally and/or financially.

For further guidance on when a data breach claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council could be valid, speak with one of our advisors today.

Local Council Housing Disrepair Claims

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord is responsible for ensuring that your home is in a safe and livable condition. If you live in council housing, then your local authority is your landlord. Any housing disrepairs reported to them that they are responsible for must be addressed within a timely manner.

Some of the things your landlord is responsible for are:

  • The structural interior and exterior of your home.
  • Gas, water, electricity and sanitation.
  • Any dampness and mould.
  • Pipes and drains.

Speak with our team today to see whether a potential claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council could be made.

Can I Make A No Win No Fee Claim Against Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council?

When pursuing a claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council, you may want to consider a type of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement. This type of arrangement is popular amongst claimants that want to be represented by a solicitor when making a claim but who don’t want to pay upfront to do so.

Working with a No Win No Fee agreement has many advantages. When you retain a solicitor under an arrangement like this, there are usually no initial fees to pay to secure their services or to pay as the case moves ahead. If the case fails, there is generally no obligation to pay your solicitor for their services.

In successful outcomes, you will pay a success fee out of your compensation to your solicitor, which is capped by law. This legal cap stops you from being overcharged.

Making A Claim Within The Time Limit

You may be wondering, “how long would I have to make a potential claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council?”. There are time limits that apply to claims starting.

The time limits are as follows:

  • You have 3 years to start a personal injury claim. This can run from the date of the incident or the date of knowledge.
  • You may have 6 years to start a personal data breach claim. This is reduced to one year if your claim is against a public body.
  • Depending on what type of housing disrepair claim you want to make, you may have between 3 and 6 years to start your claim.

Sometimes, exceptions can apply to these time limits, for example, if the injured person is a child or doesn’t have the mental capacity to claim. Get in touch with our team for guidance.

Get Advice On A Potential Claim Against  Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council

For more information regarding a potential claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council, speak with our team of advisors today. They are there to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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If you’re wondering when a  claim against Newcastle Upon Tyne City council could be justified, speak with our advisors today.

Article by Rob

Edited by Sto