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Bereavement damages

Only a very restricted group of people can claim bereavement damages 

in England and Wales when a person is killed due to the negligence of 

someone else, such as another driver or an employer. Those who can 

claim receive a statutory fixed sum of £12,980. Those eligible are the 

deceased’s wife, husband, or civil partner; the parents of an unmarried 

legitimate child under the age of 18; and the mother of an unmarried 

illegitimate child aged under 18. The law does not account for modern 

relationships. In some families, for example, a grandparent takes the 

effective role of a parent, but the law does not account for the impact 

of the needless death of a grandparent. 

But in Scotland, a judge or jury decides how much compensation 

should be awarded for grief and trauma and which relatives should 

receive it.

“The situation is Scotland is far fairer,” says APIL executive committee 

member Suzanne Trask. “It has a tailored approach to a family member 

and what they have lost individually. It really does far better reflect the 

relationship those people have. In England and Wales the list of people 

eligible is very limited. It just does not reflect modern society”. 

Psychiatric harm

Psychiatric harm can prove to be every bit as debilitating, if not more 

so, than physical harm.

‘Secondary victims’ who suffer psychiatric harm as a result of the 

deaths or injuries of loved ones are not entitled to make claims for 

compensation unless they meet very strict and outdated criteria. 

Unless you are a parent, child, spouse, or fiancé of the deceased or 

injured person, you must fight to prove that you had a ‘close tie of 

love and affection’ with the person who has been physically injured or 

killed. This means that unmarried couples who live together and same-

sex partners must go through the intrusive ordeal of proving their 

relationship. 

The psychiatric harm must also have been caused by one ‘shocking 

event’ such as a car crash. So parents who watch their child die slowly 

as a result of repeated failures in medical care are not able to claim.

The person with psychiatric harm must also have witnessed the event 

in real time, and within close proximity. This means that anyone 

witnessing or hearing the death of their loved one through television, 

or over the telephone, or on the internet, cannot make a claim. 

The law was set in the legal case that arose from the Hillsborough 

stadium disaster. Much has changed in the years which have 

passed since the tragedy, including advancement in communication 

technology, the understanding of psychiatric injury, and the 

recognition of the diversity of personal relationships.