Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Claims & Compensation Amounts

Is your job causing carpal tunnel syndrome?

The NHS website describes Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) as a pressure on a nerve in your wrist. It causes tingling, numbness and pain in your hand and fingers. The symptoms include:

An ache or pain in your fingers, hand or arm
Numb hands
Tingling or pins and needles
A weak thumb or difficulty gripping

You’re most at risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome if your job involves repeated pressure or bending of the wrist. Usually it is associated with office workers, typists and people who spend their working life sat at a computer keyboard. Whilst such activities can and do lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, many people who pursue such claims are from other workplaces. Construction workers using vibratory equipment, tools or machinery, for example, are at risk of CTS.

Some job roles are more likely to present a risk and the employer has extra responsibilities to reduce it. They should provide extra training, safe and regularly serviced equipment, the correct tools for the job and regular breaks from use of certain equipment.

CTS is commonly linked to certain types of working activity, including:

Repeated and regular use of vibratory equipment or tools
Constant and repeated lifting of heavy items
Heavy and repeated pressure over the carpal tunnel (at base of palm)
Repeated use of and bending of the wrist
Repeated forceful pinch grips
Regular heavy lifting

The condition is known to cause pain and weakness, restricted dexterity and reduced grip strength. All of which which can lead to lost independence, difficulty working as normal and maintaining your day-to-day lifestyle.

Claiming compensation for carpal tunnel syndrome can help ease some of the problems caused by the condition.

Claiming against your employer for carpal tunnel syndrome

Anyone diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome caused by their working life is entitled to seek compensation for their pain and suffering. Employers that fail to ensure proper training, guidance and risk assessments to avoid CTS may be liable should you suffer a carpal tunnel injury. You’re entitled to make an industrial injury claim as your employer has failed in their duty of care.

Compensation will be awarded if it can be shown that the employer has been negligent and failed in their responsibilities. With carpal tunnel, negligence is commonly found in at least one of these areas:

Bad working conditions.
Lack of protective equipment.
Insufficient breaks from vibrating tools
Lack of training.
Lack of, or inappropriate, risk assessments.

Understandably, it can be a sensitive issue but there are many good reasons to make a carpal tunnel claim:

Claiming is one of your rights after an injury at work, and will fairly compensate you for a health condition that was not your fault.
It can pay for private medical treatment and rehabilitation therapies to speed your recovery.
You can reclaim lost income if you have been off work.
You pay nothing if your claim fails because they are made on a No Win No Fee basis.

You can’t be sacked for claiming for a work injury that wasn’t your fault. You can also make a claim in the knowledge that you are not jeopardising any colleagues’ employment. If you’re unable to do your usual job, your employer should do their best to get you back to work on lighter duties if possible. It’s up to you who you tell or don’t tell about your claim, or if you want to discuss the claim with your employer.

Compensation amounts for carpal tunnel

A successful claim will lead to a compensation settlement being made to you. The value of the claim would cover the injuries you have suffered and medical treatment that you have required. Additionally, it may include any lost income and incurred costs, now and in the future.

The amount of compensation you can expect will depend on the severity and term of your injury, also your age and the treatment required to correct the condition. Some injuries are long-term and result in loss of employment, others are fairly mild and can be corrected relatively quickly. It’s impossible to know exactly how much you could receive but there are guidelines for solicitors to follow, and previously awarded amounts are also taken into consideration.

One case made the headlines in 2015, where a council-employed gardener successfully claimed £15,000 compensation after sustaining CTS through the use of vibrating equipment. This would be in the upper scale of what amount to expect, with more minor and recoverable cases of CTS commonly awarded between £5,000 and £10,000.

The table below is a guide to compensation amounts for carpal tunnel based on its severity. These amounts are for the injury itself, but you can also claim for special damages, which can include your lost earnings, expenses and rehabilitation therapies, for example. Once your specialist solicitor has obtained your medical report they will be able to give you an idea of how much compensation to expect.

Severity of injury	Compensation amount
Most serious - continuing bilateral disability with surgery and loss of employment	£21k - £23k
Continuing, but fluctuating and unilateral symptoms	£14k - £15k
Symptoms resolving within three years	£8k - £10k
Complete recovery within a few months	£2k - £3k

How to start your carpal tunnel claim

We can help you to understand your rights after a work-related injury and can tell you whether you are likely to succeed with your claim.

As with all injuries or health problems caused through work, it is important to make sure that your carpal tunnel syndrome has been recorded properly with your employer. It may be that details are recorded in an employer’s accident book, but more likely that your line manager and HR department should be made aware of the diagnosis you have received from your doctor. If this hasn’t been done, don’t worry, we can help you to do so.

Direct2Compensation are experts in managing work-related health claims. Some of the best accident at work solicitors in the UK handle our cases. With our easy to understand claims process and ability to complete your claim quickly, simply and transparently, there are many reasons that make us a great choice.

To find out if you can claim, call us on 01225 430285 or if you prefer, . In just a few minutes on the telephone with you, we’ll obtain the initial information needed for our solicitors to commence a claim.

Useful resources

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus carpal tunnel claim examples...

I work as a butcher in a busy factory environment. The work is very strenuous on my hands and wrists with lots of twisting and pulling on the arm joints. I did inform my supervisor on many occasions that particular tasks were very painful to carry out yet I was told to ” crack on”! I did get signed of work by my gp for 2 weeks for cts a few months ago and since then I have been for nerve conduction tests which show I need surgery on both carpal tunnels. i’m waiting for surgery now and work are fine about me taking time off for recovery but say they won’t pay me. Where do I stand please?

You can pursue a claim for this – carpal tunnel syndrome is a ‘repetitive strain injury’ and if your employer has not handled your working situation correctly, you may well be able to claim compensation – both for the pain, discomfort and distress of the injury and subsequent surgery/recovery period, but also any lost income whilst you either cannot work due to the pain or recovering from surgery.

We would be happy to discuss the claims process with you and assist you with a claim for compensation.

Hi I’m enquiring for my husband, he worked for kier for approx 2 yrs and got sacked that was 20 yrs ago, he started having numbness and tingling sensations in both hands and went onto incapacity benefit, he Never had a diagnosis but had regular medicals to assess his hands and to keep on claiming his benefit, yesterday he went to see a specialist who said he had severe carpal tunnel damage and both hands need operating on. He asked what kind of work he did all them yrs ago and he told him he worked on a belt feeder that vibrated heavily and he knows the pain and condition started then, he’s not been able to work since. The specialist informed my husband that he a right to claim for this condition, this is our first query into this matter so any advice would be most helpful.

In most cases, the period of limitation expires when 3 years has passed since an injury was sustained (the date of an accident or injury). However, with Industrial Injuries and Repetitive Strain injuries, the limitation period remains 3 years, BUT from the date of diagnosis of the injury/condition and not from the date that the injury/condition was sustained. Therefore, although your Husband sustained his injury 20 years ago, he could well still be able to claim – as it sounds as if his diagnosis was recently made as carpal tunnel and that this was certainly within the last 3 years. In your Husband’s case, we would be very happy to help him with a claim for carpal tunnel syndrome compensation.