§ GUIDE · ANATOMY OF AN AWARD

How a multi-million award
is actually put together.

Headline figures hide the structure. A catastrophic injury award is a stack of separate heads of loss, each argued and valued on its own. These judgments print the workings, which is rare, so they show exactly where the money goes.

CCC v Sheffield lump sum

£6,866,615

Plus yearly care payments

£394,940 pa

Riley v Salford total

£4,676,442

PSLA share of Riley

£120,000

G
ClaimGavel Assistant
● Online · medical negligence · free & confidential
FREE
TELL US WHAT HAPPENED — TYPE HERE

Start typing — your likely claim, value and time limit appear here.

Describe what happened (a sentence or two) to begin.

Free · confidential · not legal adviceEngland

§ TWO KINDS OF DAMAGES

The injury itself, and everything it costs.

General damages compensate pain, suffering and loss of amenity. They are valued using the Judicial College Guidelines and comparable cases, and even for the most serious injuries they are a small slice of the total. In Riley v Salford Royal [2022] EWHC 2417 (KB), a below-knee amputation for a 20-year-old attracted £120,000 in general damages out of an award of £4,676,442. In Dickinson v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals [2026] EWHC 1574 (KB), general damages were £185,000.

Everything else is special damages: the financial consequences, past and future. That is where seven-figure awards come from.

§ THE BIG HEADS

Care, housing, equipment and earnings.

Care and case management

The largest head in almost every catastrophic case. In Riley it was £980,557 as a lump sum. In CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals [2023] EWHC 1770 (KB) the court ordered care and case management to be paid as periodical payments of £394,940 a year for life. In Dickinson the judge set a future care figure of £104,936.83 for the first year and £248,843.40 a year after that.

Accommodation

Adapted housing for wheelchair use, carers and equipment. Riley's award included £983,313 for accommodation.

Prosthetics and equipment

Riley's prosthetics were valued at £737,466 over his lifetime, with a further £160,887 for aids and equipment and £308,990 for transport.

Lost earnings and pension

What the claimant would have earned but for the injury. Riley recovered £769,100 for future earnings and £27,403 for pension. Lynch v Princess Alexandra Hospital [2026] EWHC 657 (KB) included £105,436.59 for loss of future earnings and earning capacity.

§ LOST YEARS

Earnings in the years the injury took away.

Where an injury shortens life, the claimant can claim for the earnings they would have made in the years they will not live to see. For decades a Court of Appeal decision barred that claim for very young children. In CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals [2026] UKSC 5 the Supreme Court overruled it and sent the case back for the lost-years loss, pleaded at £823,506, to be assessed. Her agreed life expectancy was to age 29.

§ PROVISIONAL DAMAGES

Coming back for more if a named complication happens.

In Lynch v Princess Alexandra Hospital the court awarded £811,247.11 immediately and made a provisional damages order under section 32A of the Senior Courts Act 1981, so that if a specified further operation is ever needed the claimant can return for more. It is a way of valuing a future that cannot yet be predicted.

§ HOW FAR APART THE SIDES CAN BE

The same injury, very different valuations.

In Dickinson the claimant's schedule put the lump-sum claim at £5,820,292.71 and the defendant's counter-schedule at £1,641,938.16. The judge decided each head separately and left the form of the award, lump sum or periodical payments, for the parties to agree. That gap is why liability being admitted does not mean the claim is nearly over: valuing lifelong needs is often the longest part.

§ THE JUDGMENTS BEHIND THIS GUIDE

The judgments that print their workings.

Damages judgments are rare because most claims settle privately. These five set out the heads of loss in full, and each links to the judgment.

Claimant succeeded£6.87M

CCC (suing by her mother and litigation friend MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2023] EWHC 1770 (KB)·2023·Damages assessed at trial

The CTG showed a pathological trace that went unread for 50 minutes before an emergency caesarean; the child was born with severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and the Trust admitted liability in 2019. After a nine-day trial on damages, Ritchie J awarded a lump sum of about £6.87m plus care periodical payments of nearly £395,000 a year.

Where liability is admitted but the parties are far apart on the cost of care, housing and equipment, the court will hold a full quantum trial and decide each head of loss. This judgment is a rare published breakdown of a complete cerebral palsy award.

Claimant succeeded

CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] UKSC 5·2026·Appeal decision

A child left profoundly disabled by negligence at birth was refused 'lost years' damages for earnings she would have made in the years her injury cut from her life, because a 1982 Court of Appeal case barred such awards to young children. The Supreme Court (Lady Rose dissenting) overruled that rule and sent the case back for the lost-years loss to be assessed.

Claimants injured as young children whose life expectancy has been shortened can now claim for earnings in the 'lost years', on the same principles as adults. This can add substantially to catastrophic injury awards.

Claimant succeeded£4.68M

Matthew Riley v Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

[2022] EWHC 2417 (KB)·2022·Damages assessed at trial

A 20-year-old motorcyclist with leg fractures developed compartment syndrome which the trust admitted it treated too late, so his right leg had to be amputated below the knee. Liability was admitted and the court assessed damages at £4,676,442 covering lifelong prosthetics, care, adapted housing and lost earnings.

Where a hospital admits that quicker treatment of compartment syndrome would have saved a limb, the case becomes about valuing lifelong needs, and prosthetics, accommodation and care can each run to six or seven figures for a young claimant.

Claimant succeeded£811,247

Daisy Lynch v The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

[2026] EWHC 657 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial

The trust admitted it negligently failed to diagnose Daisy Lynch's developmental hip dysplasia at birth, so it was not picked up until she was three, by which time simple non-surgical treatment was no longer possible. She went through repeated hip operations and a total hip replacement at 22, and the court assessed her damages after an eight-day trial.

Even where liability is admitted, damages can be heavily contested, and the court can add a provisional damages order letting the claimant return for more if a specified complication later occurs. The award covered pain and suffering, lost earnings, future care and future surgery.

Claimant succeeded

Dickinson v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] EWHC 1574 (KB)·2026·Liability and damages decided at trial

A 37-year-old alcohol-dependent man admitted for a facial abscess was not given the prophylactic vitamin B1 (Pabrinex) that guidelines required during withdrawal, which the Trust admitted was a breach. The judge found this caused Wernicke's encephalopathy and a lasting functional disorder, and set the main heads of damages including a 24-hour care regime.

Breach was admitted, so the case turned on proving the brain injury was caused by the omission rather than by pre-existing conditions. It illustrates how catastrophic-injury awards are built from a care multiplicand, case management and accommodation rather than a single headline figure.

Browse the whole case library →

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

§ QUESTIONS

Common questions

Why is the pain and suffering element so small?

General damages follow brackets set by the Judicial College Guidelines and past cases, so even catastrophic injuries sit in the low hundreds of thousands. The money in a large award is for care, housing, equipment and lost earnings over a lifetime.

What is a multiplicand and a multiplier?

The multiplicand is the yearly cost of a head of loss, such as care. The multiplier converts it into a lump sum for the number of years it will be needed, using published actuarial tables. In Cullen v Dr Henniker-Major [2024] EWHC 2809 (KB), for example, a care multiplicand of £96,680 and an agreed multiplier of 13.3 produced £1,285,844.

Why are some awards paid yearly instead of as a lump sum?

For lifelong care the court can order periodical payments: a guaranteed, index-linked sum each year for life. It removes the risk of the money running out. See our guide to periodical payments.

What are interim payments?

Advances on the final award, available once liability is admitted, to fund urgent needs while the claim is valued. CCC v Sheffield records £2,700,000 of interim payments before trial.

Does a large award mean the claimant is rich?

No. Almost all of it is earmarked for care, equipment and housing that the injury made necessary, and much of it is paid over a lifetime. The award replaces what negligence took away.

§ MORE GUIDES

Plain answers to the other questions people ask.

Periodical payments →

How periodical payment orders work: a lump sum plus index-linked yearly payments for life, stepped payments, and why headline totals differ. Real settlements.

Lost years damages →

What lost years damages are, the old rule that barred them for young children, and what the Supreme Court changed in 2026. Who the decision affects and by how much.

Payout examples →

UK medical negligence payout examples by claim type, typical compensation ranges, and what decides the amount. Then check your own claim free.

Fatal negligence payouts →

What compensation after a death caused by medical negligence can include: the bereavement award, dependency, funeral costs and the estate's claim.

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.

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.