Guide to Psychiatric Injury in employment tribunal
Psychiatric injury refers to a recognised mental health condition, such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resulting from harmful treatment at work. Claiming for psychiatric injury in an Employment Tribunal typically involves demonstrating that the employer’s actions caused significant mental harm that goes beyond ordinary workplace stress. The Judicial College Guidelines provides brackets of compensation, marked by severity. We have analysed these guidelines and presented an overview here for you to support your tribunal case.
Psychiatric Damage
The factors to be taken into account in valuing claims for general psychiatric damage are as follows:
- i. the injured person’s ability to cope with life, education and work;
- ii. the effect on the injured person’s relationships with family, friends and those with whom he or she comes into contact;
- iii. the extent to which treatment would be successful;
- iv. future vulnerability;
- v. prognosis;
- vi. whether medical help has been sought;
The brackets below provide a useful starting point in the assessment of general damages to mental health.
A. Severe
In these cases the injured person will have marked problems with respect to factors (i) to (iv) above and the prognosis will be very poor.
£43,710 to £92,240
B. Moderately Severe
In these cases there will be significant problems associated with factors (i) to (iv) above but the prognosis will be much more optimistic than in (a) above. While there are awards which support both extremes of this bracket, the majority are somewhere near the middle of the bracket. Cases of work-related stress resulting in a permanent or long-standing disability preventing a return to comparable employment would appear to come within this category.
£15,200 to £43,710
C. Moderate
While there may have been the sort of problems associated with factors (i) to (iv) above there will have been marked improvement by trial and the prognosis will be good.
£4,670 to £15,200
D. Less Severe
The level of the award will take into consideration the length of the period of disability and the extent to which daily activities and sleep were affected. Cases falling short of a specific phobia or disorder such as travel anxiety when associated with minor physical symptoms may be found in the Minor Injuries chapter.
£1,220 to £4,670
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Cases within this category are exclusively those where there is a specific diagnosis of a reactive psychiatric disorder following an event which creates psychological trauma in response, usually to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation. Reflecting the criteria established in the 4th and then 5th editions of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5), the symptoms may include nightmares, flashbacks, sleep disturbance, avoidance, mood disorders, suicidal ideation and hyper-arousal. Symptoms of hyper-arousal can affect basic functions such as breathing, pulse rate and bowel and/or bladder control.
A. Severe
Such cases will involve permanent effects which prevent the injured person from working at all or at least from functioning at anything approaching the pre- trauma level. All aspects of the life of the injured person will be badly affected.
£47,720 to £80,250
B. Moderately Severe
This category is distinct from (a) above because of the better prognosis which will be for some recovery with professional help. However, the effects are still likely to cause significant disability for the foreseeable future. While there are awards which support both extremes of this bracket, the majority are between £22,930 and £29,590.
£18,450 to £47,720
C. Moderate
In these cases the injured person will have largely recovered and any continuing effects will not be grossly disabling.
£6,520 to £18,450
D. Less Severe
In these cases a virtually full recovery will have been made within one to two years and only minor symptoms will persist over any longer period.
£3,150 to £6,520
How to claim for Psychiatric Injury
Claims for Psychiatric Injury come under the ‘Personal Injury’ heading in your Schedule of Loss. Within this document it’s important you talk in detail about the injury and provide as much evidence as possible to support your claim.
You must prove the psychiatric injury. It’s important to focus on:
- Duty of care: The employer had a legal duty to protect the employee from harm.
- Breach of duty: The employer failed in this duty through negligence, bullying, harassment, or discrimination.
- Causation: The breach directly caused or materially contributed to the psychiatric injury.
- Medical evidence: A formal diagnosis and/or prescriptions from a medical professional supports the claim.
Claiming for damage to your mental health is more challenging than standard injury to feelings. Establishing a clear link between the employer’s actions and the psychiatric injury is vital. For example, it is not enough to simply prove you have depression (through doctor notes and/or anti-depressant medication etc), but also to show that the depression was caused by the employer’s actions.
