The Campaign on behalf of the bereaved - written by Mark Thomason, Deputy Head, Clinical Negligence

The Campaign on behalf of the bereaved

When an individual passes away due to negligence there is a statutory award known as a bereavement award under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976. At present, that award stands at £15,120 for any claims brought. This is an area of law which has long needed an overhaul and sadly it just is not sufficient for the current day.

Under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 there are only two categories of people, in England and Wales, who may claim

• The husband, wife or civil partner of the deceased
• The parents of a deceased child, where the deceased was under the age of 18 at the date of their death and was never married or in a civil partnership (this is further limited to only the child’s mother being able to claim if the deceased child was illegitimate)

What this means is that if a father is unmarried, he is unable to claim for the loss of his child. In addition any child cannot claim for the loss of a parent. Any parent cannot claim for the loss of a child if they are over the age of 18. Brothers and sisters cannot claim for the loss of a sibling.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) have long been campaigning to improve the law on bereavement and have produced the following, https://www.apil.org.uk/files/online-files/473-207505/Bereavement-Damages-A-Dis-United-Kingdom.pdf. The purpose of this campaign is to level up the law in England and Wales to match the far more considerate approach in Scotland. Where the case of Haggerty-Garton & five others v Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (2021) where The Judge awarded £115,000 to the deceased’s widow and between £35,000 and £40,000 to each of her three sons by way of general damages for loss of society. This is not a loss that applies to an English or Welsh family.

Losing a loved one is never an easy process to go through and the sense of unfairness is only compounded when you see the limitations placed on your bereavement. If you want to know more about the campaign then please show your support and visit https://www.apil.org.uk/bereavement-damages. If you or a loved one has been impacted by a loss you felt was caused by negligent treatment then please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss the same.