BBK Early Support Service

A spinal cord injury is a life-changing injury – in just a moment a person’s life is monumentally transformed. At Bolt Burdon Kemp (BBK), we recognise our clients and their families face immense challenges in the period immediately following a spinal cord injury which is why we’ve introduced a service to provide clients and those supporting them with immediate practical support.

What is the BBK Early Support Service?

Our Early Support Service helps clients tackle pressing practical issues from the outset.  We aim to provide practical assistance, allowing clients to concentrate on their own needs, recovery and rehabilitation while we begin investigating the potential claim for compensation.

The key features of our Early Support Service include:

• Managing creditors and service suppliers

If a client can no longer meet their financial commitments due to their injury (such as being unable to work), we help by preparing letters to explain the situation to creditors and service suppliers.

These might include utility companies, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, landlords, mobile phone companies and broadband providers. This can help ease immediate financial burdens, create a pathway for resolution, and give our clients much-needed breathing space to adapt to their life post-injury.

• Employment support

Following a spinal cord injury, clients are often unable to return to work for several months at least. Some may never be able to return to their previous roles and some may never work again. We can help by writing to employers, explaining the situation, and ensuring they receive what they are entitled to. This can also apply to family members who may be acting as carers.

For self-employed clients – who won’t receive statutory sick pay – we can provide support in applying for employment-related benefits.

• Emergency funds for essential expenses

Following discharge from hospital, there may be an urgent need for equipment or home modifications. Not everyone has the funds to cover these expenses. Some charitable trusts provide grants specifically for home alterations and essential equipment. We can guide our clients through the application process to secure this vital assistance.

• Connecting to reputable organisations

A spinal cord injury affects many aspects of a person and their family’s life and often leads to the need for specialist support across a range of issues.

Sometimes clients and their families need urgent support in relation to their housing or immigration status and we can help with this.

Invariably, our clients and their families need practical and emotional support at this difficult time in their lives. At BBK, we recognise the importance of addressing these varied and complex issues.

Through our well-connected network we can confidently direct our clients to reliable and highly regarded organisations for the specialist support they need. Whether that be expert legal advisers or charities, such as the Spinal Injuries Association or Back Up Trust with whom we work closely.

We ensure a smooth transition to these services so our clients have the legal assistance, emotional support or practical resources they need, when they need them.

• Help with state welfare and disability benefits

Trying to navigate through the challenging state benefits system can be an added source of stress for families of our clients with spinal cord injuries, particularly if they have not previously claimed benefits.

We can help with benefits applications ensuring our clients receive the benefits and support they are entitled to.

• Ad hoc support with other issues

A spinal cord injury can happen to anyone at any time. The world doesn’t pause to accommodate our clients’ and their families’ struggles, but whatever the problem in the immediate aftermath of injury, we will help if we can.

Through our BBK Early Support Service, we aim to shoulder as much of the burden as possible post-injury so that our clients and their families can focus on processing events and beginning their rehabilitation journey, while we work towards obtaining the compensation they deserve.

For more information on BBK’s Early Support Service, click here.