17 July 2019
A parliamentary committee has called for the law on compensation for bereaved relatives to be extended to recognise cohabiting couples.
In a report published last week, ‘Proposal for a draft Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (remedial) Order 2019’, the Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended wholesale reform.
Gordon Dalyell, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), said: ‘Someone’s parent, child, sibling, partner, or grandchild dies because of negligence, such as at work or on the road, every single day in England and Wales.
‘But only a very restricted and outdated list of relatives can claim the statutory fixed sum of £12,980 in damages to atone for their loss.’
APIL has campaigned for England and Wales to adopt the Scottish bereavement damages model of assessing damages on a case-by-case basis.
