A landmark judgment in the Court of Appeal has made a change to the way in which compensation awarded to those who require long-term care is calculated.

Those who suffer catastrophic injuries through no fault of their own often require the services of professional carers throughout their lives and the cost of providing this care is taken into account when calculating compensation awards. When compensation is awarded by way of annual periodical payments, the procedure has been that these should be linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI), to take account of future increases in costs. However, the RPI is designed to measure the overall cost of living and its use in this context has been widely criticised because it doesn't accurately reflect the rising costs of care. The result has been that some claimants find it difficult to budget for their care needs and risk running out of money at some future date.

The Court of Appeal has decided that in proceedings involving catastrophic injury, where a court makes a periodical payments order for a claimant regarding future care, of which the main element is wages payable to the carers, the more appropriate index to use would be the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings group 6115, which refers to care assistants and home carers.

One of the first people to benefit from this decision is 13-year-old Daniel Groves. Daniel has cerebral palsy resulting from a series of failures in medical care during his birth. He will require extensive care and support for the rest of his life. Following the decision of the Court of Appeal, he will receive a compensation package that more accurately reflects the future costs of his care.