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Foot Injury Compensation Claims & Settlement Values

By Ian Morris | Updated December 12th, 2022

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Hundreds of thousands of people attend hospital with a foot injury each year, with almost half of those having to take time off work as a result.

Any person who injures their foot in an accident at work as a result of employer negligence can seek to make a claim for compensation. Furthermore, anyone else who suffers a foot injury as a result of a non-fault accident in a public place also has the right to make a claim.

Common types of foot injury that can be claimed for

Broken bones, fractures and soft-tissue damage are all commonly associated with foot injury compensation claims. They are often caused by slips and trips, falls from height, or if an object is dropped on the foot.

Frequently the injuries include fractured talus bone (heel fracture), ankle bone fractures, metatarsal fractures and fractures to the toe bones. Surgery can be required to implant metal work to aid the recovery or fusion of the bones. In such cases, the foot injury will be permanent and lead to ongoing discomfort and restricted mobility.

In other serious cases, a foot injury can include damage to the soft tissues – ligaments and tendons – within the foot. This can lead to longer term issues affecting mobility, strength and deformity.

With very severe injuries, amputation of the foot may have occurred or be surgically required.

Compensation amounts for foot injuries

The value of a foot injury compensation settlement will vary depending on its severity. The amounts below are for the injury itself, but you can also claim for special damages which would include your expenses and rehabilitation therapies, for example.

The largest settlement amounts are reserved for amputation, where the loss of an ankle joint has obvious implications for mobility and quality of life. The amputation of one foot falls in a bracket of around £65,000 to £85,000. While the loss of both feet attracts double this value.

Very severe foot injuries would include those which produce permanent and severe pain, or really serious permanent disability. For example, amputation of the forefoot or loss of use of the heel. Compensation amounts here are again in the £65,000 to £90,000 bracket.

Fractures to both heels or feet (or an unusually severe injury to one foot) with a substantial restriction on mobility or considerable and permanent pain can see settlement values of between £30,000 and £60,000.

Those which are less severe but lead to continuing pain and prolonged treatment, with the risk of arthritis, fall between around £20,000 and £30,000.

Foot injuries such as a displaced metatarsal fracture, which can result in permanent deformity and ongoing symptoms, have a value of between £10,000 and £20,000.

Simple metatarsal fractures, ruptured ligaments, puncture wounds and other minor injuries fall into a range of between £5,000 and £10,000 depending on continuing symptoms and treatment.

Workplace foot injuries

Workers at risk of foot injury should be trained to work safely and provided with adequate personal protective equipment, such as steel-toe-capped boots to minimise the risk of fractures to the feet.

Those who are required to stand for lengthy periods of time, or wear prescribed footwear, are at risk of suffering foot health conditions such as bursitis, tarsal tunnel syndrome (which affects the nerve behind the inner ankle bone) and other conditions.

If employers fail to adequately train staff and do all they can to minimise the risk of a foot injury, they could face a claim for compensation.

How Direct2Compensation can help you claim

Our expert staff know your rights after an injury at work, or a trip or slip in a public place, and can quickly identify whether the cause of your foot injury is something that could lead to a successful claim for compensation.
We will link you with one of our specialist solicitors who will ensure that your rights are enforced and that any compensation due to you is obtained at the maximum value.

Our no win no fee claims process is easy to understand and will give you the confidence you need to pursue your claim.

We know that you may have concerns about making a claim, especially for an accident at work. With that in mind, we’re here to answer any queries you may have, and let you know whether or not your claim is viable and worth pursuing.

Simply call our offices on 01225 430285 or we can .

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Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus foot injury claim examples...

Hi, I’ve broke my foot a week ago at work as my manager tried to lift a keg and it landed on my foot. I’ve given my sick note yesterday but I have been asked by my manager if I left the house during the time I’ve been off. Can I get in trouble if I did?

Whether or not you leave the house whilst you are signed off work by a GP is irrelevant to your employer. In your case, your GP has taken the view that on the basis of injury recovery, you should not be at work for a week. That does not mean that you must spend a week confined within your own home. You are simply supposed to be resting – that does not mean that you cannot go to the shops, watch a movie or even go for a meal or drink.

You would appear to have a valid claim for workplace injury compensation after the damage done to your foot when your manager dropped the keg on to you. You may wish to pursue a claim if you do not get paid for the period of time that you are unable to work as one of the benefits of claiming compensation after suffering an injury is that alongside a financial settlement for your injury, you can also recover any lost income and incurred expenses too. To start your claim, please call us on 01225430285 or use the ‘start a claim’ page of our website.

I work doing weed-spraying on the public footpaths and roads so do a lot of walking with a 20litre knapsack containing chemical and water. At the end of the day something happened to my foot and was unable to walk or put pressure on it and I was signed off for 5 days, the doctor said I’d strained my plantar fasciitis. I’m only entitled to SSP and that’s not enough to cover my weekly wage so I need to know where I stand?

Does your employer require you to wear specific footwear for the work? If so, have they risk assessed the footwear and ensured that it is fit for purpose?

If they have not, you maybe able to pursue them for compensation for the injury sustained and the loss of income caused to you.

I work for a supermarket. Whilst at work, a customer hit the back of my foot with their shopping trolley. A few days later, the injury to my foot was infected and I ended up in hospital. I had to have surgery and almost had to have my foot amputated due to this. I had to return to work before earlier than the Hospital recommended as I was told that I had no more sick pay left which turned out to be untrue. Can I claim for my injury from my company?

Although your employer was not directly responsible for the accident and injury to your foot (as the trolley was being used by a customer), you could still seek to make a claim against your employer.

It could be that the trolley in question had a dangerously sharp piece of metal that ought not to have been present, in which case you could succeed with a claim. Also, a question to ask is whether the employer has advised the staff members about appropriate footwear that would minimise the risk of this incident being repeated.

My initial view is that it is not 100% clear if you have a claim, but I do think that it should be further investigated by our expert Soliciors.

My husband was issued with new work boots by his employer and his old ones taken from him as a direct swap. He is type 1 diabetic, this is known by his employers. 2 weeks later after working full time in these new boots what he thought was a blister turned out to be an ulcer. This has since become osteomyelitis and we have discovered the toe is broken at the tip and in order to stop the infection he will have to have part of the toe amputated. The boots are safety boots with reinforced toes. Work has replaced these boots with more foot friendly ones but the damage has been done and he is currently off work.

There could be a claim to pursue here, but it is far from straightforward and not guaranteed to proceed to success. It is likely that the boots provided by the employer meet the relevant requirements and as such, it could be very hard to prove causation or employer negligence in this matter.

However, whilst we are cautious as to the prospects here, we would welcome the chance to further investigate your husband’s claim.

I recently had an accident at work when a full roll cage during a delivery I was moving ran over my foot and resulted in a fractured toe. They put on the accident form that it was misuse of the manual handling procedure. Afterwards I realised that the only training I have received was during the generic legal training via a video 3 years ago and had not been signed off on my store specific training. I also feel that I was not provided with safety shoes that they state should be worn when in receipt of a delivery. They cannot provide me with cctv of the accident as I am presuming the camera wasn’t switched on at the time. Do I have a case?

Your employer has ticked some important boxes by way of giving you manual handling training at the outset of your employment with them. However, the provision of that training in and of itself would not absolve them of responsibility for the injuries you have sustained if it can be shown that they have been negligent towards you during your ongoing employment with tham.

Given what you have said about your employer failing to either provide you with or require you to provide specific footwear (personal protective equipment) in the workplace and the lack of specific training relevant to your work with them, we feel that it is worthwhile us investigating this matter further for you. It could well be that our specialist accident at work Solicitors will be able to identify area of employer negligence in this case. If so, we would help you to make a No Win No Fee claim for accident at work compensation. Whilst your employer is likely to use the initial training provision as a defence in this case, simply providing a generic training video at the outset of your employment is unlikely to be sufficient defence. Much will depend on the nature of the working environment in which you are carrying out your duties and whether that environment and the demands placed on you by your Supervisors prevents you from working safely.

Good day
I had an accident at work when I moved a heavy table. It was around 6 months ago. The table slipped out of my hand and landed on my foot, causing me injury.

I went to the Doctor the day after the accident where x-rays were taken and I was then signed off work for one week because of the injury. My employer did not fill in an accident book.

My foot injury is now causing me considerable pain and discomfort and as I work in retail, I am on my feet all day.

Please can you tell me what I must do.

If your employer has failed to provide you with manual handling training so that you know how to lift and move items safely, or failed to provide you with gloves or other suitable lifting equipment, you may well be able to hold them liable for the injuries you have sustained.

As they have not made a record in an accident book, you should put the details of the incident and injury in writing and send it to the HR department with a formal request that they note the details of your accident at work.