Make an Insurance claim for injury, damage, or loss
Bury Council adheres to the Practice Direction – Pre Action-Conduct and Protocols, which govern the process of Pre Action-Conduct between parties with all our compensation claims.
The Practice Direction states that an individual bringing a claim must provide sufficient details for us to understand your position, and make decisions on how to proceed. If you do not provide sufficient details, we will be unable to investigate the matter.
Please think carefully before you submit a claim, any compensation is paid from public funds. There is no automatic right to compensation, upon receipt of your claim, it will be fully investigated. No liability is implied, and no payment will be made in respect of the claim until the investigations are completed.
If you have your own insurance which covers loss or damage you may wish to consider claiming against your own insurance. You are of course entitled to obtain independent legal advice.
Please carefully read all the guidance on the webpage before submitting a claim, any delay in providing the requested information will delay our investigations, and the outcome of the matter.
Personal Injury Claim
How to claim for personal injury?
For incidents which occurred on the highway or footpaths, you must be able to prove that the road or pavement in question has not been maintained appropriately by Bury Council and was therefore dangerous and it was the direct cause of the accident.
For incidents which occur anywhere besides the highway and footpaths, you must prove that Bury Council have been negligent and that this negligence has caused your injury to occur.
You must provide full details of the following.
- A full detailed description of how the incident happened
- Full address of the exact location of the incident
- Your National Insurance number and date of birth
- Photographs of the incident location showing the wider area
- Photographs of the defect
- Photographs of the injury suffered
- Police Incident number if reported
- Details of any medical appointment attended
Motor vehicle Claim
A claim brought against a Local Authority regarding the condition of a highway, and alleged damaged caused, is usually brought under the Highways Act 1980. When bringing such a claim it is the responsibility of yourself to put forward the circumstances of the claim, and it is a well-established principle that this includes identification of the specific defect which is alleged to have caused damage. Unfortunately, if you are unable to provide sufficient details of the specific defect, we would be unable to investigate the matter, and assess liability.
How to claim for motor vehicle damage?
You must provide full details of the following.
- A full detailed description of how the incident happened
- Full address of the exact location of the incident
- Photographs of the incident location showing the wider area
- Photographs of the defect
- Photographs of the alleged damage
- Two written estimates or a paid invoice/receipt
Property damage claim
For all property damage claims, you must keep all your losses to a minimum and provide copies of estimates and all invoices for all repair work.
How to claim for property damage?
You must provide full details of the following.
- A full detailed description of how the incident happened
- Photographs of the damage
- Photographs of the incident location showing the wider area
- Two written estimates or a paid invoice/receipt
What happens next?
Once we receive all the information required with your claim form, we will send you a formal acknowledgement letter within 21 days of your submitted claim.
Your claim will then be allocated to a claims handler who will review the case and provide a full response regarding liability within 90 days. In the event of a denial of liability, all liability disputed documents will be provided to you.
To protect public funds, all claims are thoroughly investigated for fraud prevention and audit purposes, any wear and tear damage will also be considered on property damage claims and may reduce any offer of compensation if the authority is found liable.
If we deny liability (Appeals Procedure)
If you wish to appeal the decision on liability, you must state specifically what point(s) of dispute you wish to be considered, and this must be submitted in writing. If you fail to provide any evidence in support of your point(s) of dispute, your appeal will not be considered.
We are unable to process appeals through our complaints process.
Upon receipt of an appeal, a claims handler will review your claim and provide a full response on liability in writing.
Once we have provided you with a decision on your appeal, we will not consider any further appeals. If you wish to continue to pursue the matter, you are entitled to obtain independent legal advice.