The law on compensation for bereaved relatives needs urgent change to reflect real, modern family relationships in Britain today, says Sheffield lawyer Jonathan Scarsbrook.
Jonathan has just been elected to the executive committee of not-for-profit organisation APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) which is campaigning for reform of the law on bereavement damages.
Statutory bereavement damages are paid to eligible family members if a death is caused by someone else’s negligence. The fixed payment of just over £15,000 in England and Wales aims to compensate grieving relatives for losing their loved-ones in avoidable incidents, including road crashes and workplace safety failures.
“The law in England and Wales is offensive and out-of-touch with society,” said Jonathan, who is a partner at Irwin Mitchell in Sheffield. “Under the current law a dad who was not married or in a civil partnership with the mother when their child was born, wouldn’t be eligible for damages if they suffer the unthinkable, needless loss of their child’s life,” explained Jonathan.
“Nowadays almost 50 per cent of babies are born to parents who are not married or in civil partnerships,” he said.
“In Sheffield, APIL’s analysis of the latest data from the Office for National Statistics* shows 49 per cent (2,790) of babies were born to parents who were not married or in a civil partnership. That’s thousands of men who became fathers and are not considered close enough to their children in the eyes of this law.
“No amount of compensation can ever make up for the death of a loved one, especially to a parent who loses a child. But the payment is an acknowledgement of the grief and suffering caused by a death which could and should have been avoided,” he said.
“Finding out that your relationship does not qualify for that acknowledgement is a kick in the teeth when you are at your lowest. Clients in this situation tell us that it’s like being told your relationship with your loved one didn’t matter.
“It’s a much fairer system in Scotland, where the closeness between different family members is recognised, and damages are considered on a case-by-case basis. APIL wants to see a similar system here so all families are treated fairly,” Jonathan added.
“I am proud to be a part of APIL and to advocate for a better future for injured people and bereaved families. This campaign to reform bereavement damages is not about a niche legal issue, it is a societal problem with how family relationships are viewed,” he said.
Jonathan was president of APIL in 2023-24, and served as immediate past-president last year. APIL is a not-for-profit organisation made up of like-minded lawyers committed to protecting the rights of personal injury victims.