§ GUIDE · AFTER A DEATH
Compensation after a death
caused by negligent care.
No sum makes up for losing someone. What a fatal claim can do is replace the support they gave, cover what their death has cost, and get answers. Here is what it can include, who can claim, and how long you have.
Bereavement award (fixed)
£15,120
Typical overall range
£15,000 – £2,000,000
Time limit
3 yrs from death
Who claims
Estate & family
§ WHAT A FATAL CLAIM CAN INCLUDE
Four separate parts, added together.
In England and Wales a claim after a death is made under two Acts — the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 for the family, and the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 for the person who died. Between them they cover four things.
Bereavement award
A fixed statutory sum — currently £15,120 — for a spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner of two years or more, or the parents of an unmarried child under 18. It is the same whoever died and however they died.
Dependency claim
The support the person gave that has now gone: their income, pension, and the practical things they did — childcare, housework, DIY, caring for a relative. For a family that relied on them, this is usually the largest part of the claim by far.
Funeral expenses
Reasonable funeral costs, headstone and related expenses, paid back to whoever met them.
The estate's own claim
Compensation for what the person went through between the negligence and their death — pain, suffering, care they needed, earnings they lost — plus any expenses. It is paid to the estate and passes under their will or the intestacy rules.
§ WHY AMOUNTS VARY SO MUCH
It depends on who was left behind.
The law compensates loss, not the value of a life. That produces results families often find hard: the death of a retired person with no dependants may be worth little more than the bereavement award and funeral costs, while the death of a parent of young children — the same failure, the same hospital — can be worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the income and care the family has lost.
The dependency is calculated from the person’s net income, how much of it went on the family, and how many years it would have continued, with a separate value for the services they provided. Where the person lived for some time after the negligence, the estate’s own claim for their suffering and care can also be substantial.
An inquest does not decide any of this. It establishes the facts of how someone died and can be important evidence, but it does not award compensation — the civil claim runs alongside it, and can start before it concludes.
§ EXAMPLES
Example settlements involving a death.
Illustrative examples based on reported UK cases, simplified and rounded. They show scale, not what any particular claim will be worth.
Pre-eclampsia Mismanagement Leading to Maternal Death
A pregnant woman's pre-eclampsia symptoms were dismissed by her midwifery team over multiple visits. She developed eclampsia during the 37th week and suffered a stroke during delivery. She died two days later. An inquest found the death was contributed to by neglect.
Maternal death claims due to untreated pre-eclampsia highlight the importance of monitoring high-risk pregnancies according to NICE guidelines.
Drink Driving Head-On Collision: Wrongful Death
A drink driver crossed the central reservation on an A-road and collided head-on with a family vehicle, killing the mother and seriously injuring two children. The driver was more than twice the legal alcohol limit. The family pursued a civil claim in addition to the criminal prosecution.
Drink driving fatal accident claims can proceed independently of criminal prosecution and often result in large civil compensation for the bereaved family.
Wrongful Death: Overmedication with Sedatives
A care home resident died after being repeatedly administered unauthorised doses of sedatives to keep her compliant. The care home was severely understaffed and used chemical restraints as a substitute for adequate care. The CQC had previously rated the home 'Inadequate'.
Use of unauthorised chemical restraints in care homes is a serious safeguarding issue that can support significant negligence claims.
Medication Error: Fatal Drug Interaction
A hospital consultant prescribed a blood thinner to a patient already taking a medication known to dangerously interact with it. The prescribing error was not caught by the hospital pharmacist. The patient suffered a fatal internal haemorrhage within five days.
Both prescribing doctors and hospital pharmacies can be held liable for dangerous drug interactions that breach the standard of care.
§ TIME LIMIT
Three years — but from a different starting point.
For a fatal claim the three years usually run from the date of death, or from the date the person bringing the claim first knew (or could reasonably have found out) that negligent care might have caused it. One catch: if the person who died had already been out of time for their own claim before they died, the family’s claim can be barred too — so it is worth checking early, even while an inquest or complaint is ongoing.
§ QUESTIONS
Common questions
What is the average payout for medical negligence resulting in death?
There is no meaningful average, because the largest element — the dependency claim — depends entirely on who relied on the person who died. Where an elderly person with no dependants dies, the claim may be little more than the fixed bereavement award (currently £15,120) plus funeral costs. Where a working parent of young children dies, the loss of their income and the care they gave can run to hundreds of thousands of pounds or more.
Who can claim after a death caused by medical negligence?
The claim is brought by the personal representatives of the estate (the executors or administrators), on behalf of the estate and of the dependants. Dependants include a spouse or civil partner, a partner who lived with the person for at least two years, children, parents and certain other relatives who depended on them financially.
Who gets the bereavement award?
The statutory bereavement award (£15,120 for deaths in England and Wales on or after 1 May 2020) goes to the spouse or civil partner, a cohabiting partner of at least two years, or the parents of an unmarried child under 18. It is a fixed sum and is shared if more than one person qualifies. Nobody else — including adult children — can claim it.
How long do we have to claim after a death?
Usually three years from the date of death, or from the date the person bringing the claim first knew that the death might have been caused by negligent care. If the person who died had already run out of time for their own claim before they died, that can bar the claim, so it is worth taking advice early even while an inquest is ongoing.
Do we have to wait for the inquest to finish?
No. An inquest establishes who died and how, but it does not decide blame or award compensation — that is what the civil claim does. The two run separately. What emerges at an inquest can be useful evidence, and solicitors can represent a family at the inquest as well as in the claim.
Does claiming cost the family anything up front?
The assessment on this page is free, and the first conversation with Tomlin & Partners is free and without obligation. The firm explains how its fees work before the family decides anything.
§ MORE GUIDES
Plain answers to the other questions people ask.
Payout examples →
UK medical negligence payout examples by claim type, typical compensation ranges, and what decides the amount. Then check your own claim free.
Time limits →
The 3-year time limit for medical negligence claims, the date-of-knowledge rule, and the exceptions for children, mental capacity and fatal claims.
How long claims take →
How long medical negligence claims really take, stage by stage, using official NHS Resolution timing data — and what slows a claim down.
Can you sue the NHS? →
Yes — you can claim against the NHS for negligent care. What you have to show, claim vs complaint, time limits, costs, and what compensation covers.
NHS payout data →
Official NHS Resolution figures, band by band, for 2024/25.
This guide is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice about your case. ClaimGavel is run by Costart Projects Ltd on behalf of Tomlin & Partners, a specialist medical negligence firm regulated by the SRA. The free assessment on this page is an AI overview to show you roughly where you stand; a solicitor confirms the position in a free, no-obligation conversation.