Do I Get Full Pay If Injured At Work In The UK?

Last Updated On 6th March 2025. “Do you get full pay if injured at work?” Anyone can find themselves asking this question. In 2022/23, there were an estimated 35.2 million working days lost to illness and non-fatal injuries, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE monitor health and safety in Britain’s workplaces.

Worrying about money while injured is a situation that comes with stress and uncertainty during a time when getting better should be the priority. You should know that you are not alone and that you have options.

This guide will help you to understand those options. It will set out whether you are eligible for Statutory Sick Pay, and, if your employer caused your injuries, important information about personal injury claims and recovering lost earnings.

If you have ever asked this question, do not hesitate. Our panel of injury solicitors can start the vital work of helping you today. Get in touch:

  • Call us on 0800 408 7825. Our lines are open 24/7.
  • Contact us via our query page.
  • Click the live chat button below.

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Do I Recieve Full Pay If I Am Injured At Work?

If you have suffered from a workplace accident and needed to take time off work to recover, you may ask, ‘Do I get full pay if injured at work?’

Regardless of whether your employer was responsible for your workplace accident, they are not legally obliged to provide you with a full paycheck for the time you have taken off work due to your injuries. However, this does not mean that you will receive no pay. 

Depending on the terms of your employment contract, you may be paid in full or in part for your time off if:

  • Your contract states that you benefit from a sick pay scheme
  • You are entitled to statutory sick pay (discussed in the following section)
  • You have an illness insurance policy – this protects your income if you are unable to work

Depending on the circumstances of your workplace accident, you may also be entitled to compensation for your injuries and financial losses if you meet the eligibility criteria discussed in the following sections. This means that you may receive a compensation payout for any lost wages for time off work due to your injuries if your accident at work claim is successful.

If you want to know more about your injury at work pay, our friendly advisors would be happy to answer any questions you may have. They may also explain how you can claim lost pay and work benefits in an accident at work claim.

Can I Get Statutory Sick Pay?

Employers need not provide full pay if you are injured at work.

They do have to pay £116.75 per week for up to 28 weeks starting after your first 3 days of absence. This is called Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and is paid by your employer in the same way in which your wages are normally paid.

Eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay will depend on your employment status and personal circumstances.

  • You must be classed as an employee.
  • You must earn more than £123 per week on average.
  • You must tell your employer you are unable to work.
  • You need a sick note for more than 7 days of SSP.

Your rights upon an accident at work are not limited to SSP. If your employer caused your injury, you may be able to claim for loss of earnings as part of a personal injury claim.

To know more about SSP and what else you can do to recover lost income, reach out to our panel using the details above. An advisor can help assess your question, ” Do I get full pay if injured at work?”.

How Do I Claim For Loss of Earnings?

You can claim for loss of earnings as part of a personal injury claim by proving that your employer was negligent. This can help you get full pay if injured at work. However, you will need evidence that proves employer negligence occurred.

Negligence is proven by showing that:

  • Your employer had a duty of care.
  • They breached their duty of care.
  • That breach caused your injuries.

All employers have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which means that they need to take reasonable steps to protect the safety of their workforce.

Examples of employer negligence include:

  • You hurt your back lifting with the incorrect manual handling technique your employer taught you. This meant you could no longer work, causing a lifetime of future lost earnings.
  • You fell down the stairs at work and sustained a head injury because of an untended spillage. You had to take six months off work but only got SSP, leading to a total of £15,000 in lost earnings.
  • A colleague ran over your foot while operating heavy machinery due to lack of training. Your employer did not pay any sick pay, and you were not eligible for SSP. As a result, you lost out on a total of £10,000 in earnings.

Accident At Work Compensation

To make a personal injury claim against your employer, you would need to show that your employer caused or failed to take reasonable steps to prevent your injury. If your accident at work claim is successful, your settlement may consist of two heads of loss.

The first head is called ‘general damages’. This compensates for the physical pain and mental suffering caused by the accident. The second head is called ‘special damages’. It is under this head that you could be compensated for your loss of earnings. Special damages will need evidence to prove the financial losses you are claiming for, such as your wage slips.

Other items you could claim for include:

  • Medical expenses.
  • Travel expenses.
  • Loss of future income.
  • Care costs.
  • Home and vehicle conversion.

Click here to see more about how compensation payouts are calculated.

Split Liability Claims

Your employer may be partly to blame for the accident that caused your injuries. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 makes your employer liable for your conduct and training where health and safety is concerned. Even if you were injured while not wearing a hard hat, for example, your employer may share liability with you.

However, you may receive less compensation in this scenario. If the blame was 50% yours, you may only receive 50% of the compensation. For example, if the hard hat was supplied, but you didn’t wear it, nor did your employer enforce the policy.

To better understand your case, please contact our panel using the details at the top of this page.

Contact Us To See If You Can Claim For A Workplace Accident

Now we’ve answered the question, “Do I get full pay if injured at work?” this section examines how you can begin your claim with a highly experienced work injury solicitor from our expert panel.

Contact our advisors for a free assessment of your eligibility. Once our team have deemed your potential claim valid, they can connect you with one of the highly experienced solicitors from our panel of experts.

The solicitors on our panel offer their services under a No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The CFA gives claimants some very desirable benefits including:

  • Not having to pay a fee for the solicitor to begin work on the claim.
  • No fees during the claims process itself and,
  • Finally, not paying any fee if the claim does not succeed.

You’ll receive personal injury compensation will be awarded to you if you win the claim. A percentage of the compensation awarded will be deducted as the solicitor’s success fee. As The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 caps these fees at 25%, you know you’ll be keeping the majority of any compensation.

  • Call us on 0800 408 7825. Our lines are open 24/7.
  • Contact us via our query page.
  • Click the live chat button below.

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More Resources About Accident At Work Claims

Further guides that might be useful:

External links that might help you:

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