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In the 15 th edition, the overall introduction to the JCG stated that the editorial board was considering a designated section for claims arising from sexual abuse. That suggests that it was aware that there were still issues with the guidance as drafted. That change of course came with the 16 th edition and is discussed in Part 2 of this blog available here. Once an admission of liability has been conceded and a medical legal report has been provided by a medical expert, a true valuation of the claim will be obtained. The Claimant Solicitor will usually wait until the Claimant has reached their full recovery before preparing an assessment of the value of the claim. The Judicial College Guidelines will then be looked at. Our Injury Compensation Calculator (updated 2023) will give you an instant estimate of how much compensation you could receive (including general and special damages).
The authors hope that this context gives the reader a fuller understanding of the significance and need for the new Chapter 4(C) in the 16 th edition of the JCG. Despite the majority of the changes reflecting inflationary pressures and other awards, both being issues available to parties to raise in argument in any given case, the changes in the guideline figures will inevitably have a degree of upward pressure on damages awards and consequently claims inflation. There is also the removal of the column for damages without the 10% uplift following Simmons v Castle [2013] 1 WLR 1239 with the figures given now including the 10% uplift as standard. Case law can sometimes differ slightly from the guidelines. Solicitors will always use the Judicial College Guidelines in addition with case law to advise the Claimant on the full value of the claim. However, where the Claimant states that they are still symptomatic and want to know how much their claim may be worth, Solicitors are not deriving away from the question when they say don’t know, they really don’t.If an agreement could not be reached between the parties to settle the Claimant’s claim, the claim would proceed to a final court hearing. The Judicial College Guidelines would then be looked at by the judge. The latest addition of the judicial College Guidelines is the 14th Edition.
vii) (b) if so, the nature of the relationship between victim and abuser, the nature of the abuse, its duration and the symptoms caused by it. I access most of my key practitioner texts electronically now but decided to get a copy of the new JC Guidelines, the first update since January 2020. The new 16 th edition was published on 13 April 2022 and mine arrived last week. The Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee has submitted to the Board of the Judicial Council the first draft of personal injuries guidelines prepared by the Committee pursuant to Section 18 (4), as amended, of the Judicial Council Act 2019. Chapter 4 introduces a new distinct sub-category of psychiatric injury to reflect awards made to victims of sexual abuse, following the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse and its Accountability and Reparations Investigation. Aggravated damages are compensatory in nature, not punitive, as set out in Rookes v Barnard [1964] AC 1129. The Law Commission recommended statutory clarification of this point in 1997 noting that the label of “ aggravated damages” was somewhat misleading, suggesting instead “ damages for mental distress” (report, para 1.9). That recommendation was rejected.There is also a revision of the approach taken to assessing damage to reproductive organs which, previously in women, focused almost exclusively upon loss of fertility and reproductive capacity. The Judicial College recognises that injuries leading to sexual dysfunction, loss of sexual function, and associated psychological sequelae may affect both men and women. The relevant sections can be found at Sections E and F of chapter 6 and they provide more detail than in the previous edition of the guidelines.
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