Hip Injury Claims UK: How to Claim Compensation

At a glance

• Time limit to start court proceedings: normally 3 years from the date of the injury, or from your "date of knowledge" if later (Limitation Act 1980, s.11).
• Children: the 3-year clock does not start until the 18th birthday, so a claim can be brought on a child's behalf earlier, or by the child themselves after turning 18 (Limitation Act 1980, s.28).
• Missed the normal deadline? A court has a discretion to let a late claim proceed if it decides this is equitable, but this is not guaranteed and depends heavily on the facts (Limitation Act 1980, s.33).
• Defective hip implant claims: governed by the Consumer Protection Act 1987, subject to a separate, absolute 10-year long-stop from when the product was supplied — one that cannot be extended even with a good reason (Limitation Act 1980, s.11A).
• Partly your own fault? You can still claim. Compensation is reduced to reflect your share of responsibility under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, not lost altogether.
• Most claims are resolved without a trial, following the steps set out in the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims.
• Funding: many claims run on a no-win, no-fee basis under a conditional fee agreement, a form of funding recognised by section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
• Workplace accidents may also need reporting under RIDDOR if they meet the reporting thresholds — the report can double as useful evidence.

What counts as a hip injury claim

A hip injury claim is a civil action brought by someone whose hip has been damaged through another party's negligence or breach of a legal duty. The aim is to recover financial compensation for the injury itself and for the wider consequences that flow from it — lost earnings, private treatment costs, care needs, home adaptations, and the effect on daily life.

Hip injuries covered by these claims range widely: fractures from road traffic collisions, damage caused by lifting or manual handling at work, slips on poorly maintained floors, a hip replacement that failed because of substandard surgical care, and implants that turned out to be defective. The legal framework sits mainly within the law of negligence, supported by specific statutes depending on the context — workplace duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, premises duties under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, and product liability under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. Whatever the cause, the common thread is that a third party did something they should not have done, or failed to do something they should have done, and your hip paid the price.

The four things you need to prove

To succeed in a negligence-based hip injury claim, you generally need to establish four elements:

1. Duty of care — the other party owed you a legal duty to take reasonable care. This exists automatically in many settings: employers owe it to employees, drivers owe it to other road users, occupiers owe it to lawful visitors.
2. Breach of duty — they fell below the standard of a reasonable person or organisation in that position. What counts as reasonable depends on the context and the specific statute in play.
3. Causation — the breach actually caused your hip injury, not just any injury, and not one that would have happened anyway.
4. Damage — you suffered a loss the law recognises: physical injury, financial loss, or both.

Missing any one of these four elements is usually fatal to a claim, which is why early evidence-gathering (see below) matters so much.

How long you have to make a claim

The starting point is section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980: court proceedings for a personal injury claim must normally be started within 3 years of whichever is later — the date of the injury, or your "date of knowledge" that the injury was significant and linked to someone else's fault. In practice, most people know both facts straight away, so the 3-year clock usually just runs from the date of the accident.

If you were a child when you were injured

Under section 28 of the Act, time does not start running against a child until their 18th birthday. A parent, guardian or other appropriate adult can bring a claim on the child's behalf at any point before then as their "litigation friend," or the young person can wait and bring the claim themselves once they turn 18, with 3 years from that birthday to do so.

Defective hip implants: a different deadline

If the claim is against the manufacturer or importer of a defective hip implant under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, a separate, stricter rule applies: section 11A of the Limitation Act 1980 imposes an absolute 10-year long-stop running from when the product was put into circulation. Unlike the ordinary 3-year rule, this long-stop cannot be extended by the court under any circumstances, even where the defect only became apparent much later.

If you've missed the normal deadline

Section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 gives the court a discretion to allow a claim to proceed outside the usual time limit where it considers this equitable, weighing the prejudice to each side, the reasons for the delay, and how the delay has affected the available evidence. This discretion exists, but it is not a safety net to plan around — acting well within the 3-year window remains the safest course, and the 10-year product-liability long-stop cannot be disapplied at all.

The claims process step by step

1. Get medical attention and keep a paper trail. See a GP, attend A&E, or get referred to a specialist as soon as possible. Early medical records link the injury to the incident and document its severity. Ask for copies of imaging, consultant letters and physiotherapy notes as they accumulate.
2. Record what happened while it is fresh. Note the date, time, location and circumstances in detail — weather, lighting, floor conditions, any warnings that were or were not in place, and the names and contact details of anyone who saw it happen.
3. Preserve and gather supporting evidence. Photograph the scene, your injuries over time, and any equipment or hazard involved. Request CCTV or dashcam footage promptly, since many systems overwrite recordings within days or weeks. If the incident happened at work, ask for a copy of the accident book entry and any internal incident report.
4. Report the incident through the appropriate channel. Workplace injuries should be logged with your employer and, where the reporting thresholds under RIDDOR are met, reported to the HSE. Road traffic incidents should be reported to the police and your insurer. Injuries on public or commercial premises should be raised with the occupier or local authority in writing so there is a record of notification.
5. Follow the Pre-Action Protocol. Once you (or your adviser) are ready, a letter of claim is sent to the party responsible, setting out the basis of the claim and the injuries suffered. Under the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims, the other side is expected to respond within a reasonable time — typically 14 days in straightforward cases, and no more than 3 months for the most complex ones — confirming whether liability is accepted.
6. Medical evidence and negotiation. Independent medical evidence is usually obtained to assess the injury and prognosis. With liability and medical evidence in place, most claims are negotiated to a settlement without ever reaching a courtroom.
7. Court proceedings as a last resort. If liability is disputed or the parties cannot agree on value, court proceedings can be issued. Even then, settlement often follows before any hearing.
8. Take guidance before committing to a course of action. Before signing anything or accepting an early offer, speak to someone who handles these matters regularly. Hip injuries often have long recovery arcs, and the full picture of your losses may not be clear for months, which affects how and when a claim should be valued.

Evidence that strengthens a hip injury claim

• Contemporaneous medical records: GP notes, A&E discharge summary, imaging reports, consultant letters, physiotherapy notes.
• A written account of the incident made as soon as possible afterwards, including exact time, location and conditions.
• Photographs of the scene, the hazard, and your injuries as they progress.
• Contact details for independent witnesses.
• CCTV, dashcam or bodycam footage, requested promptly before it is overwritten.
• The accident book entry, internal incident report, or RIDDOR report where the incident happened at work.
• A record of financial losses: payslips showing lost earnings, receipts for private treatment or mobility aids, travel costs to appointments, and a log of care provided by family members.

Common causes and the law that applies

| Cause of injury | Legal basis | Who is usually pursued | |---|---|---| | Road traffic collision | Common law negligence, backed by compulsory motor insurance | The at-fault driver, via their insurer | | Workplace accident | Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and common law duty of care | Your employer | | Slip, trip or fall on someone else's premises | Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 | The occupier — a business, landlord, or local authority | | Hip replacement or surgery that goes wrong | Clinical negligence (common law duty of care) | The NHS Trust or private hospital responsible for your care | | Defective hip implant | Consumer Protection Act 1987 (product liability) | The manufacturer or importer of the implant |

Road traffic collisions

Drivers owe other road users a duty to drive with reasonable care and skill. A hip fracture or dislocation from a collision is one of the more common serious personal injury claims, since the joint absorbs much of the force in a side-impact or a fall from a motorcycle.

Accidents at work

Employers owe duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, including providing safe systems of work, adequate training, and suitable equipment — relevant to manual handling injuries, falls from height, and slips on factory or warehouse floors. Certain workplace hip injuries also fall within RIDDOR's reporting thresholds (see the FAQ below), and the resulting report can be useful supporting evidence.

Slips, trips and falls on someone else's premises

If you were a lawful visitor to a shop, restaurant, car park, or other premises, the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 places a "common duty of care" on the occupier to take reasonable steps to keep visitors reasonably safe for the purposes they were invited there for. This is a duty of reasonable care, not an absolute guarantee of safety.

Hip replacement or surgery that goes wrong

Claims about surgical or treatment failures sit in clinical negligence, a specialist area of negligence law with its own demands: you generally need to show the treatment fell below the standard of a reasonably competent practitioner and that this caused avoidable harm. Claims against an NHS Trust typically follow the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes. See our related guide on amputation compensation claims for how severe surgical complications are approached.

Defective hip implants

Where the implant itself was faulty — rather than the surgery — a claim may instead lie against the manufacturer or importer under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which imposes strict liability where a product's safety falls below what people are generally entitled to expect. As set out above, this route carries its own absolute 10-year long-stop.

If you were partly at fault: contributory negligence

Being partly responsible for what happened does not stop you claiming. Under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, damages are reduced by whatever percentage the court (or the parties in negotiation) considers "just and equitable" having regard to your share of the blame — the claim itself survives. Common examples include not wearing provided safety equipment, or being distracted at the time of a fall. Do not assume a claim is hopeless just because you think you could have acted differently; get the specific facts assessed instead.

How claims are usually funded

Many personal injury claims, including hip injury claims, are funded through a conditional fee agreement — commonly known as "no win, no fee" — a form of funding specifically recognised under section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. Under this arrangement, you typically do not pay your legal representative's fees if the claim is unsuccessful, and a success fee (a percentage uplift) may be deducted from your compensation if it succeeds. Terms vary between firms, so before agreeing, ask specifically what happens if the claim fails, what would be deducted if it succeeds, and whether after-the-event insurance is being arranged to cover any risk of paying the other side's costs. Always check the current position and any figures quoted to you directly with your adviser or via GOV.UK, rather than relying on a generic estimate.

What if you're not sure where your claim fits

Some hip injuries do not fall neatly into one category — for example, a fall at work that was partly caused by a defective piece of equipment could raise both an employer's-liability claim and a product liability claim at the same time. Where more than one legal route might apply, or where a claim might touch on a hip replacement performed under general anaesthetic (raising possible questions about capacity and consent as well as clinical standard of care), it is worth getting the specific facts looked at early rather than guessing which statute applies. See our related guide on ankle injury compensation claims for how a broadly similar lower-limb claim is approached, and the personal injury claims hub for other injury types.

This guide provides general information about how hip injury claims work under the law of England and Wales. It is not legal advice and does not replace advice tailored to your own circumstances. Speaking to a legal adviser early can help you understand how the time limits and evidence requirements apply to what happened to you. The law described was accurate as at July 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: July 2026 · Next review due: July 2027 or on legislative change.