Around 2.5 million folk in Britain sustain accidental wounds each year. As a consequence they may lose earnings or autonomy, and face life changes. Fault may rest with the driver of another auto, a public authority like a local authority or infirmary, an employer or another individual whose action or inaction was the reason behind the accident and the injury sustained. Under UK law the responsible party must compensate the wounded person for any loss (i.e. the polluter pays).

Far from there having been a boom in buyers claiming compensation for wounds, only 31 per cent of accident victims essentially claim compensation using legal processes. Indeed the particular number of claims for wounds following accidents has reduced since the new system of funding legal actions in personal injury cases, the ''conditional charge agreement'', was rolled out, as the table in Appendix one shows. Since the abolishment of legal aid for private injury cases in 2000, CABx have handled over 130,000 enquiries in relation to personal injury claims.

Seeking compensation for injuries and harm isn't a social problem or the sign of the appearance of a 'compensation culture,' but simply realizing a civil and legal right. Where an individual has suffered wounds, a compensation award can help them to afford help and services to aid them to adjust and completely recover or make up for monetary loss. Folk who've been hurt might have lost pay, or perhaps their roles, on account of being ill. They could have experienced a dramatic change in pace where social opportunities were closed off to them, they could have sustained costs to evolve their life and their houses to address the injury, whether in a period of recovery or once and for all. They could also have felt stresses, depression and anxiousness. Failure to address these issues can make contributions to social exclusion.

A monetary award of compensation (damages) from the individual or body responsible may help to reduce public costs of services and advantages to the individual influenced. Also lessons learned from claims should benefit others and the general public at large by putting right the issues that was the cause of injury right off the bat. Whether as companies, service suppliers or voters, everyone has duties to avoid causing harm to others and to take all reasonable steps to stop such harm arising.