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It can be extremely distressing to suffer an accident at work, not just emotionally and physically, but financially too. One of the most common questions injured employees ask is: “Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?”. Well, it depends on numerous factors, which we cover in this guide to help you answer that question, along with other questions you may have about making an accident at work claim.
Key Takeaways
- Your employment contract and your statutory rights are factors that can determine whether you get full pay after being injured at work or not.
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides a legal minimum amount of sick pay for eligible injured employees, provided certain requirements are met.
- If you take time off work due to an injury, you can also potentially receive benefits such as Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance.
- Alongside receiving sick pay and benefits, you could also claim compensation if employer negligence occurred. Employer negligence is when your employer acts negligently (through unsafe work practices, no appropriate training, etc.), and causes an employee to be injured as a result.
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics reveal that an estimated 604,000 employees sustained an injury at work in 2023/24, according to the Labour Force Survey.
If you’ve suffered from employer negligence, our panel of specialist accident at work solicitors can help you claim the compensation you deserve. Our panel have decades of experience combined in winning accident at work claims for injured employees, and have a track record of providing the highest level of client service. Contact us for free today to potentially be connected with a specialist solicitor from our panel:
Jump To A Section:
- Do I Get Paid If I’m Injured At Work?
- How Can I Know If I’m Entitled To Sick Pay From My Employer?
- What Is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)?
- What Happens If I’m Self-Employed And Injured At Work?
- Benefits You Can Claim If You’re Off Work Sick Or Injured
- Can I Claim Any Missed Pay Back In Compensation?
- What Financial Losses Can I Claim After A Work Injury?
- How Can A No Win No Fee Solicitor Help Me Recover Lost Pay?
- More Information
Do I Get Paid If I’m Injured At Work?
If you’re injured at work, it is not a legal requirement for your employer to provide you with a full pay cheque for the time you’ve taken off work, even if they were responsible for your workplace accident. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t get paid at all.
You may get full or partial pay for your time off depending on the terms of your employment contract, such as whether:
- There’s a sick pay scheme in place.
- You’re entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (which we discuss in more detail below).
- Your income is protected by an illness insurance policy.
Additionally, you could also potentially make an accident at work claim for compensation. This compensation can cover any lost wages you’ve suffered due to taking time off work for your injuries, as well as other financial losses.
In order to be eligible to claim compensation, you would have to prove that employer negligence occurred. This is something that our panel of solicitors can help you with. So, you don’t have to worry about doing this alone.
If you would like to know more about your workplace injury pay, our advisors would be more than happy to answer any of your questions, such as “Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?” and more.
How Can I Know If I’m Entitled To Sick Pay From My Employer?
To know whether you’re entitled to sick pay from your employer, you should check your contract of employment and contact your workplace’s HR department or employer themselves.
Your contract of employment might say that you can get contractual sick pay from your employer as well as Statutory Sick Pay. The amount of contractual sick pay you could get, and how long for, will depend on your specific contract. It might also say in your contract that you could still be paid for:
- Pension contributions.
- Workplace benefits and bonuses.
- Any other schemes that are in place in your workplace.
Again, this will depend on the specifics of your contract.
There might also be details of contractual sick pay in your staff handbook or intranet, should it not be stated in your contract of employment.
Contact us today and have a chat with us about your specific contract of employment. Otherwise, continue reading to learn more about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).
What Is Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)?
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum amount employers in the UK are legally obligated to pay eligible employees who are too sick to work. It’s paid by employers in the same way normal ages are, with National Insurance and tax deducted.
As of 2025, SSP can be paid for up to 28 weeks at £118.75 per week, starting after the first 3 days of absence.
To be eligible for SSP, you must:
- Be classed as an employee (this includes some agency workers).
- Earn more than £123 per week on average (before tax).
- Inform your employer that you are too sick to work.
- Provide a sick note from a medical professional after the first 7 days of absence.
SSP offers a basic level of income protection. However, this might not be enough to cover your usual expenses, let alone cover the expenses that come from serious injuries, such as care and prescription costs.
This is why many injured employees seek compensation through an accident at work claim, to help them with the financial losses the workplace injury has caused. To find out whether you can begin a claim today, please speak with our friendly team and ask us “Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?”.
What Happens If I’m Self-Employed And Injured At Work?
If you are self-employed and have been injured whilst working, then you are unfortunately not entitled to receive SSP, as you do not have an employer. However, you could be entitled to claim other benefits, which we cover in more detail in the following section.
You could also claim against a private income protection insurance policy if you have one; the regular monthly payment from this insurance policy can help cover your outgoings as you recover.
Additionally, self-employed workers may be entitled to make an accident at work claim for compensation, provided they meet the claims eligibility criteria and were working on someone else’s premises or under their control at the time of the accident.
To find out more about “Do I get paid if I’m injured as a self-employed worker?”, please don’t hesitate to speak to us.
Benefits You Can Claim If You’re Off Work Sick Or Injured
When SSP isn’t sufficient alone to meet your financial needs, there are several other additional benefits that are available to help you bridge the income gap. These are:
Universal Credit
If you are on a low income or have less than £16,000 across your savings, investments, and cash, then you could claim Universal Credit.
You can potentially receive Universal Credit as well as SSP to supplement your lost income. Universal credit can especially help if you have any dependents or housing costs.
The amount of Universal Credit you can receive will be evaluated based on your circumstances and your SSP payments in mind.
Employment and Support Allowance
You might be eligible for the New Style Employment and Support Allowance if you’ve made a sufficient amount of National Insurance contributions in the last 2-3 years.
The eligibility criteria to receive this allowance can be found here.
Additional Benefits
You could also be eligible for additional benefits, depending on your circumstances. These benefits include:
- Council tax reductions from your local authority.
- Housing benefits/support with housing costs.
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP), for long-term injuries.
Please keep in mind that all of these benefits are not mutually exclusive. You may be eligible to receive multiple benefits at the same time, which can help to give you a more stable financial position during your recovery period.
Our panel of solicitors can also help you apply for these benefits during the accident at work claims process.
If you are wondering “Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?” and would like to receive help today, please contact us at any time that suits you.
Can I Claim Any Missed Pay Back In Compensation?
If you meet the accident at work claims eligibility criteria, then yes – you can also claim any missed pay back in compensation.
Accident at work compensation is usually split into 2 heads of claim: general and special damages. General damages is the head of claim that compensates you for your physical suffering, while special damages is the head of claim that reimburses the financial losses you’ve suffered as a result of the workplace injury.
Alongside general loss of earnings, here are some types of missed pay that you can potentially be reimbursed for:
- Future loss of earnings, if the injury prevents you from working long-term.
- Missed pension contributions.
- Missed bonus opportunities and salary progressions.
- Shift allowances.
- Missed overtime pay.
- Missed tips (if regularly earned).
- Commissions.
- Lost holiday entitlement.
If you are employed, your loss of earnings can be calculated by looking at your payslips (from the previous 6 months), so please keep all of your payslips as evidence.
If you are self-employed, you’ll need to provide evidence of your loss of earnings through tax returns, invoices, cancelled job bookings, and bank statements that show your income patterns.
Our panel of solicitors can help you collect this evidence to prove your loss of earnings. To potentially connect with them, please contact us today.
What Financial Losses Can I Claim After A Work Injury?
Alongside missed pay, there are lots of other types of financial losses that you could potentially claim back after a work injury, such as medical expenses and care costs.
Special damages can also cover:
- Medical expenses, such as paying for medications to treat the injury.
- Domestic and professional care costs.
- Travel expenses from attending medical appointments related to the injury.
- Home and car adaptation costs, if the injury is permanent and you now require your home to be more accessible. For example, widening doorways, adding ramps and a stairlift, etc.
- Therapy costs.
- Gratuitous care costs (the time spent from loved ones caring for you for free).
Our panel of solicitors can help you collect vital evidence to prove these financial losses, such as:
- Receipts.
- Invoices.
- Bank statements.
- Travel tickets.
If you would like help with collecting this evidence to ensure that your special damages are accurate and fair, please contact us today and ask us ”Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?”.
How Can A No Win No Fee Solicitor Help Me Recover Lost Pay?
Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors can offer you a variety of services, such as collecting evidence on your behalf, in order to help you recover your lost pay and other expenses related to your workplace injury. These services can also make the accident at work claims process as easy for you as possible.
Our panel’s services include:
- Collecting evidence on your behalf to prove employer negligence occurred.
- Talking you through how to apply for other benefits to help with your financial losses.
- Helping you apply for interim payments, if applicable.
- Negotiating to secure you the best accident at work compensation possible, ensuring that all of your financial losses are accounted for.
- Communicating with your employer, and other relevant parties, on your behalf.
- Giving you contacts to rehabilitation specialists.
- Explaining any legal terms you come across.
- Sending you updates all throughout the compensation claims process.
The type of No Win No Fee service that our panel of solicitors offer these services under is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means:
- You pay no upfront or ongoing solicitor fees for their services.
- If your workplace accident claim is unsuccessful, you pay no solicitor service fees at all.
- If your workplace accident claim is successful, your solicitor will keep a small success fee from your compensation. A success fee is a percentage that is legally-capped and always discussed with you before the claims process begins.
If you think you would benefit from these No Win No Fee services, then please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Contact Our Advisors
If you have been injured at work because your employer was negligent, we can help you today. Our panel of solicitors can work with you to help secure compensation to aid with your recovery and help pay back any financial losses you have suffered. It’s completely free to have a chat with us about your circumstances:
- Call 0333 0000729
- Visit our ‘Contact Us’ page.
- Message an advisor directly using our on-screen live chat box.
More Information
For more information on accident at work claims, please see here:
- Learn how long you have to make an accident at work claim.
- Find out how to claim compensation as a part-time employee.
- Learn more about what duty of care employers owe to their employees.
Additionally, you could find the information on these other pages useful:
- HSE – information on the workplace’s accident book.
- Gov.UK – guidance on compensation for injuries at work
- NHS – list of different conditions
Now that we have answered the question “Do I get paid if I’m injured at work?”, why not enquire about making a compensation claim? Not only can our advisors check your claim eligibility for free with no-obligation, they can also answer any other questions you have about your workplace injury. We’re available 24/7.
