Most of us do not think twice when we pick something up, open a door or even wave to somebody in the street. The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles and their adjoining tendons that surround the shoulder, providing support and enabling all these arm movements. Damage to these soft tissues can have serious impacts, and how much compensation for a rotator cuff injury you could receive will depend not only on the seriousness of the injury but also on the knock-on effects on your day-to-day life.
Our panel of expert solicitors have years of experience in handling personal injury claims of all varieties. So if you need support collecting evidence or help understanding all the tricky language, our panel of dedicated legal professionals can support you every step of the way. Additionally, they can offer their expert services on a No Win No Fee basis.
Talk to our dedicated advisors to ask any questions about claiming rotator cuff tear compensation, or get a free eligibility check.
Browse This Page
- How Much Compensation For A Rotator Cuff Injury?
- What Factors Determine Rotator Cuff Injury Compensation Amounts?
- Can I Make A Rotator Cuff Injury Claim?
- What Accidents Could Cause A Rotator Cuff To Become Injured?
- Rotator Cuff Injury Medical Negligence Compensation
- What Do I Need To Claim Rotator Cuff Injury Compensation?
- How Public Interest Lawyers Can Help A Rotator Cuff Injury Claim
- Learn More
How Much Compensation For A Rotator Cuff Injury?
You could receive between £5,310 and £23,430 for a shoulder injury, such as a rotator cuff injury. These values were taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), a publication used by legal professionals to help them determine potential compensation figures for various injuries.
Your total compensation amount can be comprised of 2 separate heads of claim:
- General damages: payments for your physical and psychological injuries.
- Special damages: payments for associated financial harm. We take a more detailed look at special damages in the next section.
In order to determine a potential general damages figure for your claim, solicitors can use your medical evidence alongside the JCG.
In the table below, we use some of the figures from the JCG relating to shoulder injuries to help give you a clearer idea. We should emphasise that the first figure is not a JCG figure.
Compensation Table
Please be aware that this information is intended to act as guidance only.
| Type of Injury | Severity | Guideline Payout Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Very Serious Injuries with Special Damages including Lost Income and Medical Bills | Very Serious | Up to £500,000+ |
| Neck Injuries | Severe (a)(ii) - Permanent Brachial Plexus Damage | £80,240 to £159,770 |
| Severe (a)(iii) - Fractures or dislocations | £55,500 to £68,330 | |
| Shoulder Injuries | Severe (a) - Brachial Plexus Damage | £23,430 to £58,610 |
| Serious (b) - Dislocation and Lower Brachial Plexus Damage | £15,580 to £23,430 | |
| Moderate (c) - Frozen Shoulder with Limitation of Movement | £9,630 to £15,580 | |
| Minor (i) - Shoulder soft tissue injury with a full recovery under 2 years | £5,310 to £9,630 | |
| Minor (ii) - Shoulder soft tissue injury with full recovery within 3 months | Up to £2,990 |
You can inquire further about claiming for your specific injury by contacting Public Interest Lawyers today.
What Factors Determine Rotator Cuff Injury Compensation Amounts?
The factors that determine rotator cuff injury compensation amount are the seriousness of the injuries, the impacts on your daily life and the level of financial loss these injuries have caused. Compensation for these costs, as we stated above, are paid out under special damages.
When you claim shoulder injury compensation, your special damages can account for past and future losses, so it’s very common to see these payouts be a lot higher than the related general damages.
Examples of financial losses you could claim for include:
- Loss of earnings due to any time taken off work.
- Loss of future earnings if you remain unable to work, unable to work the same hours or to the same capacity.
- Medical expenses such as prescription medication, counselling and therapy, rehabilitation services and private treatment.
- Travel to and from work or your hospital appointments if you can no longer drive.
- Domestic care and support for tasks including meal preparation, cleaning, gardening, caring for dependents and DIY if you cannot do this safely on your own.
- Home modifications, including access ramps, stairlifts, accessible showers and alarms, if your mobility has been affected.
Make sure you hold onto copies of documents, including travel tickets, purchase receipts, bills and your payslips, as proof of the losses you have sustained.
Any total compensation figure calculated by a solicitor will be subject to negotiation during the claims process. The overall payout is influenced by many factors, including the severity of injuries, the costs incurred and the psychological effect. This section, therefore, is intended to act as a rough guide.
You can ask further questions about potential compensation in your specific circumstances by speaking to our advisory team today.
Can I Make A Rotator Cuff Injury Claim?
Yes, you could make a rotator cuff injury claim if you can show that you were injured by a third party’s negligent actions. The general eligibility requirements are as follows:
- You were owed a duty of care.
- This duty was breached in some way, leading to an accident.
- This accident resulted in you sustaining an injury.
A duty of care refers to a legal responsibility for the safety or well-being of others, and depending on the circumstances, different parties owe different duties of care. We explain the different types of duty of care you could be owed in the following section.
To see if you could be eligible to claim compensation for a rotator cuff injury, you can contact our advisors.
What Accidents Could Cause A Rotator Cuff To Become Injured?
A range of accidents, including road traffic collisions, incidents in public areas and in workplaces, could all cause a rotator cuff to become injured. Below you’ll see an illustrative example for each of these contexts. Remember, these scenarios have been included to offer guidance, not to provide an exhaustive list. Contact our advisors to learn more about starting a claim for your specific injuries.
Road Accident Claims
Everyone who uses the roads, from pedestrians all the way up to HGV drivers, must do everything they can to avoid causing harm to each other. This duty of care requires them to obey the rules and laws of both the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Here’s an example of how a failure to uphold these rules can lead to rotator cuff damage:
- You were riding your motorbike when you were hit side-on by a car that failed to check a junction was clear before pulling out. This causes you to suffer a rotator cuff injury as well as a severe back injury.
Accidents At Work
Accidents at work occur when an employer does not uphold their duty of care. The Health and Safety At Work etc Act 1974 requires all employers to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all employees. This can include measures such as providing sufficient training and supervision, and ensuring the work environment is designed in a safe manner.
An example of how rotator cuff damage could be caused in a workplace accident can include:
- Manual handling training had not been provided, but your employer still made you lift and carry a box that was much too heavy for one person. The strain of lifting tore your rotator cuff and left you with long-term functional impairment.
Accidents In A Public Place
Those in control of public areas, known as “occupiers,” must implement steps that ensure the reasonable safety of any visitors to their premises. This is a legal requirement under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. An example of how rotator cuff damage could be suffered includes:
- A shopping centre had not organised the repair of a bannister despite staff reporting the fault. You were climbing the stairs when one of the handrail mountings gave way. While you were able to steady yourself and avoid a more serious fall, you badly twisted your shoulder when doing so, damaging your rotator cuff.
We hope these scenarios have provided a bit more context on how a rotator cuff injury may be sustained. This list is not intended to cover all possible eventualities, so for more detailed information on making a claim for compensation for a rotoator cuff injury, you can contact our advisors.
Rotator Cuff Injury Medical Negligence Compensation
It is also possible to pursue rotator cuff injury medical negligence compensation in certain scenarios. Medical professionals owe a duty of care to anyone they treat. Regardless of their area of practice or level of experience, medical professionals in both public and private healthcare settings must provide care that meets the correct standards.
So, if a failure to meet these standards leads to you experiencing avoidable harm, such as errors during surgery, misdiagnoses or other mistakes, you could be entitled to compensation. Further information can be sought from our advisory team at any time using the contact information given below.
What Do I Need To Claim Rotator Cuff Injury Compensation?
In order to claim rotator cuff injury compensation, you’ll need to provide supporting evidence and make sure that any claim for your soft tissue injury is brought within the correct time limit.
There are various types of evidence you could gather, depending on where your accident occurred, to support shoulder injury compensation claims. Evidence is key not only for showing how an accident occurred, but it can also demonstrate the third party’s fault in causing your injuries. Some examples include:
- Medical records of your shoulder injury treatment. While your health is the primary concern, copies of your records, such as scans, are very useful in showing the extent of the rotator cuff tear as well as other damage.
- For an accident at work, you make a report in the workplace accident book and obtain a copy of this.
- If available, you have the right to request any CCTV footage of the accident occurring.
- Likewise, footage from a dash cam or similar device can be obtained for an accident involving vehicles.
- Take the contact details of any potential witnesses so their statements can be taken during the claims process.
- The contact information, vehicle registration and insurance details of any other drivers involved in the accident
There is also generally a 3-year time limit to start a claim, although certain exceptions may be applicable. To find out more about these exceptions, you can read our dedicated guide on the personal injury limitation period.
Contact our advisors today with any questions you have about claiming compensation for a rotator cuff injury.
How Public Interest Lawyers Can Help A Rotator Cuff Injury Claim
Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) can help with a rotator cuff injury claim by providing a free, zero-obligation assessment of your eligibility. If you meet the criteria, PIL’s advisory team will connect you with a highly experienced solicitor from our panel. They have substantial experience in dealing with claims of all varieties and can provide a range of tailored services that suit your particular needs. We have summarised just some of the things our solicitors can do for you here:
- Making sure you get any medical treatment, counselling, rehabilitation and other treatment you might need to cope with your injury.
- Assisting you with evidence collection.
- Determining a potential compensation figure for both the rotator cuff damage as well as any financial losses.
- Providing clear explanations of how the claim is progressing and explaining all the tricky legal terms.
- Communicating with the defendant’s solicitors and negotiating a settlement on your behalf.
The solicitors on our panel also offer their clients a specific No Win No Fee contract, called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means their clients don’t have to pay any service fees to the solicitor at the outset or during the claim. A CFA also prevents service fees from being charged if the claim is lost.
If the claim is won, however, a percentage of your compensation will be taken as a success fee. The maximum that a solicitor can charge for their success fee is restricted to 25% by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013.
Contact Our Advisors
Talk to our dedicated advisors to ask any questions or get a free eligibility check. You can reach us at any time using the contact information given here:
- Call us on 0800 408 7825.
- You can also contact us online.
- Or, click the live chat button to get through to an advisor now.
Learn More
You can view more of our personal injury claims guides here:
- Find out if you could claim for a catastrophic injury and see how payouts are calculated.
- Check the eligibility requirements to claim compensation for injuries caused by poor lighting in the workplace.
- See this guide to claiming minor car accident compensation and check what payout you could be entitled to.
These additional resources have been included to give you further information:
- Read this guidance on shoulder impingement from the NHS.
- You might be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you are off work due to your injuries.
- See this road safety guidance from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)
Thank you for taking the time to read our guide on claiming compensation for a rotator cuff injury.