When you make a claim for compensation you are alleging that the council has been negligent or failed in its statutory duty.
Claims for compensation are decided on legal liability. This means that you have to prove “that on the balance of probabilities” the council has been negligent or failed in its statutory duty. No one is automatically entitled to compensation.
Making a claim
Your claim is made against the London Borough of Hounslow, and as such, officers of the council investigate some of the background issues surrounding your claim.
When this information is discovered it is passed to professional claims handlers employed by the council to take the decision on whether legal liability attaches to the council. This decision is also taken in conjunction with our officers. There may be occasions when we need to clarify the information you have provided to us and we have to contact you further.
Compensation money
As the council self-insures to a large extent, all of this money comes from council funds.
What you need to provide
In order that your claim can be processed efficiently you must provide:
your name and address
the date of your accident
the exact location of your accident, i.e. Outside No27 Acacia Avenue, Anytown
the reason why you think the council is responsible for the accident
your date of birth
your National Insurance number
How to make a claim
Go to Claim for Compensation Online form >>
Please use the online form link above if you would like to submit a claim for compensation against the London Borough of Hounslow.
The information you provide in this form will be bound by the council's privacy policies and all other aspects of this website's legal notices.
Please note that all housing related claims must be submitted to Hounslow Homes.
After you apply
Once we have received your claim we will write to you to acknowledge receipt.
We will make an investigation into the circumstances of your incident and make a report for our compensation claims handlers.
If it is the decision of the claims handlers that the council is not “legally liable” for your accident then they will write to you and give you the reasons why.
If you are unhappy with this decision and wish to take this matter further you are advised to take independent advice. Please note that legal aid is now not available in all but exceptional circumstances.
If the decision is to award you compensation our claims handlers will write to you with an offer. You then have the opportunity to accept or refuse the offer. Please be aware that if you refuse an offer our claims handlers are under no obligation to make a higher offer.
Dealing with your claim
The time it will take to deal with your claim depends on many issues. If your claim does not involve an injury and the issue of legal liability is straightforward then your claim should be settled within six weeks of us receiving your claim.
However if your claim involves an injury our claims handlers may have to refer to hospitals, doctors etc to verify your injuries and we have no control over the length of time it may take to receive their replies.
Our claims handlers may feel the need to involve experts in certain fields to give advice, again this may add time to reaching a final decision.
Claims involving certain injuries or claims involving injuries to children may take a while to discover the full extent of the injury.
Getting a fair deal
We have a responsibility to try and ensure that we only pay for claims for which we are legally liable. If it is our opinion and that of our claims handlers that we are not legally liable then we will vigorously defend the claim.
However on the occasions that we consider that we are legally liable then we try and settle these claims on the best terms possible as it is no ones interest to have claims dragging on for a long time.
Please note
The information you provide may be shared with other appropriate council departments and outside agencies for the registered purposes under the Data Protection Act 1998.
We are under a duty to protect the public funds they handle and my use the information you have provided to prevent and detect fraud. Therefore the information you provide may be checked against other council records. We may also share this information, for the same purposes, with other organizations that handle public funds.