Electrical Injury Compensation Claims — UK Guide
If you’ve suffered an electric shock, burn, or other injury from faulty wiring, a dangerous appliance, or botched electrical work at home, UK law may entitle you to compensation. Electrical injuries can range from a minor shock to severe burns, cardiac arrhythmia, and lasting nerve damage, and depending on what caused it, several different people or organisations can be held legally responsible.
In this guide
- What Counts as an Electrical Injury Claim?
- Who Can Be Held Responsible?
- Common Electrical Injury Scenarios
- What Compensation Could You Receive?
- Time Limits
- Evidence That Strengthens an Electrical Injury Claim
- No Win No Fee Electrical Injury Claims
- Common Questions About Electrical Injury Claims
- Related Guides
- Our Partner's Fees Explained
- Check If You Could Claim Compensation For Your Injury
This guide explains what counts as an electrical injury claim, who can be held responsible, what compensation typically covers, and how to start a claim on a no win no fee basis without any upfront cost.
What Counts as an Electrical Injury Claim?
An electrical injury claim covers harm caused by electricity in or around the home, where someone else’s failure — a landlord, manufacturer, retailer, or electrician — was responsible. Common injuries include:
- Electrical burns, including deep entry and exit wounds where current passed through the body
- Electric shock causing cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest
- Nerve and muscle damage from the electrical current itself
- Secondary injuries from being thrown or falling after a shock
- Burns and smoke inhalation from an electrical fire
- Psychological trauma following a serious shock or house fire
The most common causes seen in claims include:
- Faulty or deteriorating wiring that has not been inspected or maintained
- A dangerous or counterfeit appliance, charger, or extension lead
- DIY or unqualified electrical work carried out in the property
- Exposed cables or damaged sockets left unrepaired
- A faulty consumer unit (fuse board) that fails to cut power when it should
Who Can Be Held Responsible?
Responsibility for an electrical injury depends on what caused it. There are three common routes:
Landlords and Rented Accommodation
If you were injured by the electrics in a rented home, your landlord may be liable. The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require landlords to have every electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person, and to give tenants a copy of the report. A landlord who cannot produce a valid, in-date report, or who ignored a report flagging unsafe wiring, is in a very weak position to defend a claim. See our landlord negligence guide and the official guidance for landlords and tenants for more detail.
Defective Products and Appliances
If a faulty appliance, charger, or piece of equipment caused your injury, you may be able to claim under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which imposes strict liability on the manufacturer or importer of a defective product. You do not need to prove anyone was careless — only that the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury. If the manufacturer or importer cannot be identified, the retailer can sometimes be held responsible instead. See our defective product guide for how this works in practice.
Contractors and Electricians
Notifiable electrical work in a home — such as a new circuit or a consumer unit replacement — must either be certified by a local authority or carried out by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme under Part P of the Building Regulations. An electrician who carries out unsafe or uncertified work can be sued directly in negligence, and the person who commissioned the work (a landlord, or a previous homeowner if you have since bought the property) may also share responsibility. See our contractor & tradesperson guide for more on this route.
Common Electrical Injury Scenarios
- A faulty consumer unit or old wiring in a rented flat that has never been inspected
- DIY electrical work carried out by a previous tenant, owner, or the landlord themselves
- A counterfeit or recalled appliance, charger, or heater bought online
- Exposed or damaged wiring behind a socket or light fitting after building work
- An electric shock from garden equipment, a hot tub, or a pond pump
- A house fire caused by an electrical fault, leading to burns or smoke inhalation
What Compensation Could You Receive?
An electrical injury claim typically covers two strands of loss — general damages for the injury itself, and special damages for the financial impact.
General Damages — For the Injury Itself
The pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by the injury, valued using the Judicial College Guidelines (18th edition, April 2026). Burns and any psychological impact are usually the biggest factors in valuing an electrical injury claim. For specific figures, see our burns compensation amounts page, our severe burn injury guide for more serious cases, or use our burn injury compensation calculator for an estimate.
Special Damages — For the Financial Impact
- Lost income during recovery
- Travel costs to hospital, GP, or specialist burns clinic appointments
- Plastic surgery or scar treatment not available on the NHS
- Counselling or psychological therapy
- Cost of replacing damaged clothing, devices, or property
- Alternative accommodation costs if a fire made your home temporarily uninhabitable
- Care provided by family members while you recovered
Time Limits
You generally have three years from the date of the injury to start a claim, under the Limitation Act 1980. If your claim is against a product manufacturer under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, there is an additional rule: you cannot bring a claim more than ten years after the product was first put into circulation, regardless of when you discovered the defect, so it is worth acting quickly if an older appliance was involved.
Evidence That Strengthens an Electrical Injury Claim
Most electrical injury claims are won or lost on documents and physical evidence. The strongest claims include:
- Photographs of the injury, the appliance, and the scene, taken as soon as possible
- The faulty product itself, along with its packaging, instructions, and receipt
- A copy of the property’s Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), or evidence that none exists
- Any correspondence with your landlord about wiring, sockets, or repairs
- An invoice, certificate, or Part P registration details for any recent electrical work
- Medical records from A&E, your GP, or hospital treatment
- Names and contact details of any witnesses
- A fire brigade report, if the incident involved a fire
A solicitor will help gather most of this for you. See our evidence needed guide for more.
No Win No Fee Electrical Injury Claims
Claims Bible matches your case to a panel solicitor who runs the claim on a no win no fee Conditional Fee Agreement. You pay nothing upfront, nothing during the case, and nothing at all if the claim does not succeed, provided you keep to the terms of your agreement. If you win, a success fee — capped at 25% of your general damages and past losses by the LASPO Act 2012 — is deducted from your damages. Read more on our how no win no fee works guide.
Most electrical injury claims settle without ever reaching court. We cover what happens if yours is the exception on our will my claim go to court? page.
Common Questions About Electrical Injury Claims
I was injured by an old appliance I’ve had for years. Can I still claim?
Possibly, but time is more pressing than with most personal injury claims. Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, you cannot bring a claim more than ten years after the product was first put into circulation, even if you only recently discovered the defect. If your appliance is approaching or past that age, speak to a solicitor promptly to check whether you’re still within time.
My landlord never had the wiring checked. Does that automatically mean I can claim?
Not automatically, but it puts you in a strong position. You still need to show the electrics were unsafe and that this caused your injury, but a landlord who cannot produce a valid Electrical Installation Condition Report has no way to demonstrate they met their legal obligations, which makes it much harder for them to dispute liability.
I was electrocuted by DIY work done by a previous tenant, not my current landlord. Can I still claim?
Yes, in most cases. Your landlord has an ongoing duty to ensure the property’s electrics are safe throughout your tenancy, regardless of who carried out the original work. If unsafe DIY wiring was there when you moved in, or should have been picked up at the last inspection, your landlord is likely still the right target for a claim.
The electrician who did the work wasn’t registered with a competent person scheme. Does that help my claim?
Yes. Unregistered or uncertified work on a notifiable job is a strong indicator that proper safety checks were skipped, and it can support a negligence claim directly against the electrician as well as against whoever commissioned the work.
How much compensation could I get for an electric shock or burn injury?
It depends mainly on the severity and location of any burns, whether there is permanent scarring, and any psychological impact. For specific brackets, see our burns compensation amounts page or use the burn injury compensation calculator for an estimate.
How long does an electrical injury claim take?
Straightforward cases with clear liability and modest injuries can settle in 6 to 12 months. Cases involving serious burns, disputed liability, or ongoing medical treatment can take 18 months or longer. See our how long does a claim take guide for typical timelines by claim type.
Related Guides
Defective Product Injury Claims
Landlord Negligence Personal Injury Claims
Contractor & Tradesperson Home Injury Claims
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Claims
Severe Burn Injury Compensation Claims
Burn Injury Compensation Calculator
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