If a relative helps after an injury, record the additional tasks they perform, how long those tasks take and how the arrangement differs from life before the injury. The record should describe real assistance, not turn ordinary family time into an invented invoice. A careful diary can help a solicitor assess a potential care claim even where no money changed hands.
This guide concerns evidence for personal injury claims in England and Wales. Whether particular assistance is recoverable, and how it should be valued, depends on the facts and applicable law. The diary does not establish liability, prove that every task was necessary or set an hourly rate. It gives the legal and, where needed, care experts a reliable factual starting point.
The most useful approach is simple: record the task soon after it happens, distinguish active help from presence, identify overlapping assistance and preserve the records used for any later reconstruction. Include improvement and reduced help as well as difficult periods. Accuracy matters more than an impressive weekly total.
Tasks and duration: describe what actually happened
Begin with an activity, not a broad label
“Care for three hours” tells a reader very little. It could mean personal assistance throughout that time, several short household tasks, waiting nearby or an ordinary social visit. Describe the activity: helping with dressing, preparing a meal, collecting shopping, supporting an appointment journey or carrying out a household task that the injured person would otherwise have done.
Explain the injury-related difficulty in plain terms without diagnosing it. “Could not carry the shopping bags because of the arm restriction described in the discharge advice” is more informative than “needed total care”. If the reason is your own observation rather than a clinical instruction, say so. The diary should preserve the distinction between what was advised and what the family decided.
A task may be partly shared. If you prepared vegetables while your relative handled heavy pans, record the division rather than treating the entire meal preparation as assistance. That level of detail helps an assessor understand remaining independence and prevents a diary from understating progress.
Measure time reasonably
Record approximate start and finish times where practical, or a reasonable duration. You do not need a stopwatch for every small task. Consistent, honest estimates are preferable to false precision. If an entry is rounded, use a sensible method and explain it rather than always rounding upwards.
Distinguish the time spent helping from the total time a relative was present. A two-hour visit may include twenty minutes of assistance and the rest companionship. If presence itself was needed for a specific reason, record the reason separately so an appropriate professional can assess it.
Do not automatically multiply a single observed duration by every day of a long period. Tasks vary. Use the diary to identify a representative pattern, note exceptions and explain any later calculation. A weekly summary should be traceable to the underlying entries or clearly identified reconstruction.
Separate active help, prompting and supervision
Assistance can involve physical tasks, reminders or supervision, depending on the person's needs. These descriptions are not interchangeable. Record what the helper did and why. “Prompted the appointment time twice and checked the transport booking” is different from “provided constant supervision”.
If a professional has assessed a need for supervision, keep the relevant recommendation. If the family has independently adopted an arrangement because of concern, record that honestly and seek appropriate advice. The existence of a diary entry does not establish that the arrangement was clinically necessary or legally recoverable.
Avoid asking a relative to perform tasks outside their competence. A care record is not a training manual. Where moving, handling, medication or other clinical issues arise, obtain suitable professional guidance rather than improvising a method for the purpose of documenting care.
Pre-existing help: establish a fair baseline
Describe the household before the injury
Most households already share work. A partner may usually cook, a parent may provide childcare or an adult child may take someone shopping. An injury claim should not quietly treat those existing arrangements as entirely new assistance.
Prepare a short baseline account covering the period before the injury. Who normally performed each task? How often? Was help already needed because of another condition? Were there paid services? Use concrete examples and available records rather than an idealised description in which the injured person did everything independently.
The baseline can change for reasons unrelated to the accident. A move, new job, new baby or relative's illness may alter household responsibilities. Tell the solicitor about those events so the additional effect of the injury can be considered accurately.
Identify extra work within an existing routine
A relative who already cooked may now need to prepare meals separately, assist with eating or make extra shopping trips. The relevant difference may be the additional task or time, not the whole existing routine. Record the change and its cause as precisely as you can.
Similarly, a partner who usually drove to the supermarket may now also carry all bags, put shopping away and assist the injured person to attend. Those elements should be distinguished. A factual account allows the solicitor to consider the proper legal treatment rather than assuming that a familiar household activity cannot involve additional assistance.
Do not decide recoverability yourself. Some apparently ordinary tasks may be relevant; some burdens may fall outside the claim or require a different analysis. The diary's job is to describe the difference. The legal assessment comes afterwards.
Account for temporary life changes
If a relative moves into the home temporarily, record the dates, reason and assistance actually provided. Living together does not prove that every hour was care. It may, however, explain availability, overnight help or a change in household arrangements that needs assessment.
If the injured person stays with relatives, note what their own home could not accommodate and what support was provided at the temporary address. Preserve relevant discharge or assessment documents. Avoid assuming that accommodation costs and care time are the same category of loss.
When the arrangement ends, record why. Improvement, the helper's return to work and a move to paid support have different implications for future needs. A diary that stops without explanation leaves an avoidable gap in the evidence.
Additional needs: capture changes over time
Divide recovery into meaningful phases
Assistance shortly after discharge may differ substantially from help needed months later. Create phases based on actual changes: a restriction lifted, equipment supplied, therapy started or an assessed need revised. Do not use arbitrary periods merely to simplify a calculation.
For each phase, describe typical tasks and frequency, then note unusual days. This gives a clearer picture than either an enormous undifferentiated total or a daily diary with no explanation of changing needs. The records should show both the pattern and the evidence supporting it.
Ask the solicitor whether a care expert's assessment is appropriate. In a serious or continuing case, family observations may need to be considered alongside professional evidence about necessity, duration and future provision. The family's experience is valuable, but it is not a substitute for every specialist question.
Record unsuccessful attempts and adaptation
You may attempt a task independently but need help to finish it. Record what was attempted, what assistance was required and whether the arrangement changed. This is more informative than an absolute statement that you either can or cannot perform the task.
Equipment may reduce assistance without removing it entirely. For example, an adaptation could make part of a routine manageable while another part still requires help. Describe the actual effect. Do not keep claiming the previous level of help unchanged simply because the diary format has not been updated.
If support increases again, explain the reason and seek appropriate clinical advice where needed. A genuine fluctuation should be recorded rather than hidden because it interrupts a neat recovery story. Equally, avoid attributing every later difficulty to the original injury without evidence.
Include needs that are not currently met
A relative may be unable to provide all the support that appears necessary. Record gaps separately from care actually delivered. “Help needed but unavailable” should not be counted as time a person provided. It may instead identify a question for a care assessment or an urgent support discussion.
This distinction prevents the diary from confusing actual past assistance with future or unmet need. It also avoids suggesting that an unsafe or unsustainable family arrangement is adequate merely because everyone has managed to continue so far.
For social care support, the NHS guide to getting a needs assessment explains the route to an assessment through the local council. That assessment has its own purpose and criteria; it is not the same as a damages assessment in a personal injury claim.
The family care diary
Use a format that the household can maintain. A notebook, spreadsheet or secure digital document can all work. Consistency, attribution and preservation are more important than the software.
| Field | What to record | Example of useful detail |
|---|---|---|
| Date and entry date | When help occurred and when recorded | Same-day entry or later reconstruction clearly marked |
| Helper | Person who performed the task | Name and relationship, with separate helpers identified |
| Activity | Specific assistance | Prepared lunch and carried it to the accessible room |
| Duration | Approximate active time | Twenty minutes; ordinary social visit recorded separately |
| Reason | Injury-related difficulty observed or advised | Unable to carry items while using prescribed mobility support |
| Baseline | What happened before injury | Injured person normally prepared their own lunch |
| Overlap | Other help at the same time | Second relative present but not assisting with this task |
| Supporting record | Relevant source | Appointment letter, message or discharge instruction |
| Change or uncertainty | Qualification needed | Duration estimated from usual routine, not timed |
A blank daily entry
Date of assistance: __. Date this entry was made: _. Helper: . Task: . What the injured person did independently: . What the helper did: . Approximate active duration: . Why help was needed: . Previous arrangement: . Other help or paid provision at the same time: . Supporting record: . Anything uncertain: ___.
Do not fill every blank mechanically if it adds no useful information. A brief accurate entry is better than a long repeated paragraph. If the routine is stable, a short reference to an earlier description may be appropriate within the private diary, provided changes and exceptions remain clear.
Keep source material in a separate folder rather than embedding sensitive records into every entry. Number the documents if that helps the solicitor follow references. Preserve originals, including the dates of messages or appointments used to reconstruct events.
A weekly review
At the end of a week, check whether tasks have been counted twice, whether paid support overlaps and whether the pattern changed. Add a short summary of significant developments. Do not rewrite earlier entries to make them look as though they were recorded contemporaneously.
Ask each helper to review the entries attributed to them. If they disagree with a duration or description, record the correction transparently. The injured person's understanding and the helper's recollection may differ; resolving that honestly is more useful than requiring everyone to adopt a polished account.
A weekly total can assist organisation, but keep the categories separate. Personal assistance, household tasks, transport and supervision may require different assessment. Combining everything into one number too early can conceal the issues that matter.
Prevent double counting
Two relatives at the same time
Two people may both be necessary for a particular task, or one may simply be present. Record their respective roles. If both were required because of assessed handling needs, preserve the relevant guidance. If one was observing or visiting, do not count that as a second identical care task without explanation.
Where relatives divide a task, record the division. One might drive while another assists at the destination. Those are different contributions. The diary should show whether their time overlaps and why, allowing the solicitor to evaluate it appropriately.
Avoid treating family agreement as proof of necessity. Two helpers may sincerely believe both were needed, but a professional assessment may be required in a contested or substantial claim. The factual record and opinion about reasonable provision are separate evidence.
Paid care and unpaid help
If a paid carer performs a task, a relative should not also record having performed the same task unless there was a genuine additional role. Keep care agency schedules and invoices where available. Explain cancellations or short visits that caused the family to step in.
A scheduled visit is not always a delivered visit. Record what actually happened, including when a relative covered a gap. Conversely, do not assume the full booked duration was additional family care because a relative remained at home while the paid carer attended.
If the family directly pays a helper, preserve the payment arrangement and evidence. Paid services and unpaid care may be treated differently. Do not describe a payment as wages, reimbursement or a gift without understanding the actual arrangement and obtaining advice where necessary.
Travel, waiting and attendance
An appointment journey can involve driving, assistance getting in and out, waiting and support during the consultation. Record those elements separately where practical. The legal treatment of each depends on the circumstances; a diary should not predetermine that every minute is recoverable care.
Keep appointment details and travel receipts, but avoid claiming the same expense through two categories. If a relative claims mileage or parking as an expense, that is different from the question of their time. A clear record helps the solicitor prevent duplication while considering legitimate losses.
For a trip that would have happened anyway, explain the additional injury-related element. A routine family outing with some assistance is different from a dedicated medical journey. Context makes the evidence more credible and easier to assess.
Supporting evidence without manufacturing a paper trail
Use records that already exist
Messages arranging help, appointment letters, work rotas, shopping orders and calendar entries can support the chronology. They do not necessarily prove the whole duration or necessity of care, but they may corroborate dates and activities.
Preserve the full relevant context. A message saying “I will come over” does not establish what happened during the visit. Do not crop material in a way that changes its meaning or present a proposed arrangement as a completed task.
There is no need to stage photographs of relatives helping. Intrusive documentation can burden the household and compromise dignity. Ask the solicitor what evidence is proportionate. Often a careful written account and existing records are more useful than a large collection of staged images.
Reconstruct older periods openly
If no diary was kept initially, start one now and explain that earlier entries are retrospective. Use discharge dates, appointments, messages and other records to identify phases. Ask helpers for their own recollections before creating a single combined narrative.
Use ranges or qualifications where exact times are not known. “Usually around half an hour, on most weekday evenings during this period” may be more honest than assigning the same precise duration to every date. The solicitor can advise how an estimate should be presented.
Do not ask someone to sign a statement claiming contemporaneous knowledge they do not have. If a relative remembers the general pattern but not individual days, say so. Uncertainty does not make evidence worthless; disguising it can make the evidence unreliable.
Preserve unfavourable and improving evidence
A record that shows independence returning can strengthen the credibility of the overall account. Keep entries showing tasks completed without help, cancelled assistance and activities resumed. These facts may change the value or duration of a claim, but they should not be concealed.
Likewise, tell the solicitor if a helper's recollection contradicts yours. An inconsistency may have an innocent explanation, such as different understandings of whether waiting time was included. It should be addressed before a formal statement is prepared.
The civil practice direction on witness statements distinguishes information from personal knowledge and requires proper presentation of evidence. Your solicitor should prepare any formal statement through the appropriate process. A diary is supporting material, not a substitute for understanding and approving the statement you sign.
Valuation belongs after the factual record
Do not choose an hourly rate from the internet
A potential claim for unpaid assistance is not necessarily valued by multiplying every recorded hour by a commercial agency rate. The appropriate approach depends on the nature of the help, evidence, period and legal principles. Ask your solicitor to explain the method and any adjustments rather than inserting an unsupported rate into the diary.
The fact that the relative did not charge does not automatically mean the assistance has no relevance to damages. Nor does family generosity automatically establish a recoverable claim for every inconvenience. The assessment needs the injury-related need and the actual contribution to be understood.
Keep facts and valuation in separate documents. This allows the factual record to remain stable while legal advice or expert assessment changes the calculation. A diary that repeatedly changes to match a preferred total is harder to explain than a consistent account of events.
A helper's lost wages are a separate question
A relative may reduce working hours or use leave to help. Preserve the actual employment and pay evidence, but do not assume their lost wages become an additional claim on top of the full value of care. The legal treatment requires advice and may involve avoiding overlap.
Record the reason for the employment change and the assistance provided. Paid leave, unpaid leave, reduced hours and a permanent job change are different facts. Do not describe all of them as salary lost without checking the payslips and employer records.
The family should seek appropriate advice before making major long-term employment decisions. A compensation claim is uncertain, and a hoped-for award is not a secure replacement for earnings. The diary helps assess past support; it does not guarantee reimbursement for future choices.
For the injured person’s own income records, use Proving Lost Earnings After an Injury. If the household needs money before final resolution, Financial Help Before Settlement: Interim Payments addresses a separate funding question; a care diary supports assessment but does not itself create entitlement to an advance.
Payments after settlement need their own advice
An award including care-related damages does not remove the need to understand how money should be managed or paid. If the injured person lacks capacity and a deputy or attorney is involved, authority and conflicts require particular attention.
The Office of the Public Guardian's family care payments guidance addresses payments made for a person lacking capacity and when court approval may be relevant. That is a distinct issue from valuing a civil damages claim. Do not treat an amount in a settlement schedule as automatic authority for a relative to transfer money to themselves.
Ask the solicitor what advice is needed about payments, benefits, tax or employment arrangements before creating an ongoing paid role. The answer depends on the actual circumstances, and the diary alone does not resolve those questions.
Support for the helper
The person providing care may have their own needs for information, respite or support. Recording assistance for litigation should not become another demanding task imposed on someone already stretched. Agree a proportionate method and share administration where appropriate.
The NHS carer's assessment guidance describes a separate assessment of the carer's needs in England. It is different from the injured person's needs assessment and from a personal injury valuation. Ask the relevant local services about the applicable arrangements where you live.
If the helper cannot continue safely or sustainably, raise that promptly with the appropriate care team. Do not keep an unsuitable arrangement solely because it is familiar or because the claim has not settled. Practical support decisions and compensation evidence should inform each other without making one depend entirely on the other.
Three hypothetical diary entries
Cooking within an existing household routine
Before an injury, a couple alternated cooking. Afterwards, one partner prepares meals on the injured person's usual days and also carries plates because the person cannot manage that task. The diary records the additional days and carrying assistance, rather than claiming every meal prepared in the household.
A note explains that the partner would have cooked on other days anyway. When the injured person resumes preparation using an adaptation, the record changes. This example shows how a baseline prevents both overstatement and the mistaken assumption that familiar domestic work can never be relevant.
Several helpers during the first week at home
Two relatives visit after discharge. One assists with an assessed task requiring help, while the other prepares food and sorts shopping. Their entries identify different activities and times. A later period of ordinary conversation is recorded as social time, not automatically added to both care totals.
If both relatives genuinely assist with the same task, the entry explains their separate roles and refers to any relevant professional instruction. The point is not to minimise support. It is to make clear what each person actually did and why the overlap occurred.
A retrospective record built from messages
A claimant starts a diary a month after injury. Earlier messages show that a sibling attended on several evenings, but not the length of every visit. The sibling recalls a usual pattern of meal preparation and laundry. The reconstruction states the sources and identifies durations as estimates.
The family does not create identical timed entries for dates nobody remembers. The solicitor can consider the account with the other evidence and decide how to present it. A transparent estimate is more useful than a precise-looking record that falsely implies contemporaneous measurement.
Prepare the care section of your claim file
Create four items: the pre-injury baseline, the current diary, supporting records and a list of uncertainties. Keep paid care invoices separate but cross-reference overlapping dates. Ask helpers to review their own contributions and identify any periods when their availability changed.
For continuing serious needs, connect the diary with Spinal Injury and Future Care Needs where relevant. Past assistance and future provision are linked, but future care should not be predicted solely by extending an early recovery diary indefinitely.
If you want advice about the care evidence within a claim, contact AJS through the serious injury claims page. Provide a sample week, the baseline account and any professional care assessment. AJS works on private fees and does not offer legal aid; confirm accepted instructions and costs before assuming the firm is handling the claim.
Frequently asked questions
1. Can unpaid family assistance be relevant to a compensation claim?
Yes, it can be relevant, but recoverability and valuation require a case-specific legal assessment. The absence of an invoice does not make the assistance irrelevant. Record the additional injury-related tasks, actual contribution and pre-injury arrangements. Do not assume that every visit, household activity or family inconvenience will be included simply because a relative helped after the accident.
2. Do I need to record every minute with a stopwatch?
No. A reasonable, consistent method is usually more useful than false precision. Record approximate active time, explain estimates and separate ordinary presence from assistance. If the task varies, note that rather than entering an identical duration every day. Your solicitor can advise what detail is proportionate for the scale and disputed issues in the particular claim.
3. What if my partner already did most household work?
Describe that baseline honestly and identify what changed. There may be additional tasks, frequency or time even within an existing routine. Equally, work that would have happened anyway should not silently become new care. The factual comparison helps the solicitor assess the injury's additional effect without assuming that either all or none of the partner's contribution is relevant.
4. Should I include time spent keeping me company?
Ordinary companionship should be distinguished from assistance or assessed supervision. Record the facts and explain any specific reason presence was needed. Do not automatically count the full length of a social visit as care. If supervision is an issue, appropriate professional evidence may be required to assess its necessity and duration rather than relying only on the family's label.
5. Can two relatives record help during the same period?
They can record what each actually did, but the overlap must be clear. Different tasks may occur simultaneously, or both people may be needed for one task. Explain their roles and preserve relevant professional guidance. Do not duplicate a task merely because two relatives were present. The solicitor can then assess which contributions and durations are properly included.
6. What if no diary was kept immediately after the injury?
Begin a current diary and reconstruct earlier periods openly using messages, appointments, calendars and helpers' recollections. Mark the reconstruction date and explain uncertainty. Avoid creating precise daily entries that imply they were written at the time. A reasoned account of the usual pattern, supported where possible, is preferable to invented detail or abandoning the evidence entirely.
7. Should relatives sign each diary entry?
Ask your solicitor what is proportionate. It is useful for helpers to review entries attributed to them and correct errors, but a signature does not cure an inaccurate account. If a formal witness statement is later prepared, each person must understand and approve their own evidence. Keep the diary's authorship and any later amendments clear throughout the process.
8. Can I use messages as evidence of family help?
Messages can support dates, arrangements and context, but a proposed visit does not prove every task or duration. Preserve the relevant conversation rather than isolated extracts that change its meaning. Tell the solicitor what the messages establish and what still depends on recollection. Do not alter timestamps or create retrospective messages to make the record appear contemporaneous.
9. How should hospital or therapy journeys be recorded?
Separate driving, assistance, waiting and support during attendance where practical. Keep appointment details and expenses, and explain whether the journey was dedicated to the injury-related appointment or combined with another purpose. The legal treatment of time and costs may differ. A clear record lets the solicitor assess the components without counting the same expense or activity twice.
10. Can a relative claim their lost wages instead of care time?
Do not assume that either measure is automatically recoverable or that both can be added together. Preserve employment records and describe the actual assistance provided. The solicitor must consider the appropriate legal approach and possible overlap. Paid leave, unpaid leave and a permanent reduction in work are different circumstances and should not all be described as identical financial loss.
11. What hourly rate should I put in the diary?
Keep the diary factual and leave valuation to the appropriate legal assessment. An agency's advertised rate may include costs that do not apply to unpaid family assistance, and different tasks or periods may require different treatment. Ask for an explanation of the calculation used in your case. Do not adjust recorded hours to reach a preferred compensation figure.
12. Should I include help that I needed but nobody could provide?
Record unmet need separately from care actually delivered. It may be important for a professional assessment or future support plan, but it is not time that a relative provided. Explain what task remained difficult and the practical consequences. If the gap creates a safety or care concern, raise it with the appropriate services rather than waiting for the claim.
13. What happens when equipment reduces the help I need?
Update the diary to show the actual change, including tasks you can now perform and assistance that remains necessary. Keep the equipment assessment or delivery information where relevant. Do not continue the old care total automatically. Accurate evidence of improvement helps distinguish past phases from current needs and supports a more reliable assessment of the overall assistance history.
14. Can paid carers and relatives both provide relevant support?
Yes, but record the distinct contributions and any overlap. Keep agency schedules and invoices, and note when a relative covers a cancellation or performs an additional task. A booked paid visit is not necessarily a delivered one, while a relative's presence during a paid visit is not automatically extra care. The evidence should show what actually occurred.
15. Must I photograph my relative helping with personal tasks?
Not usually as a routine requirement. Intrusive or staged photographs can compromise dignity without adding useful evidence. Ask the solicitor what is needed and proportionate. A clear diary, relevant assessments and existing records may be more helpful. Never create a demonstration that misrepresents usual function or requires someone to perform an unsafe task for the camera.
16. How do I record help with reminders or organisation?
Describe the specific action, its frequency and the reason it was needed. For example, distinguish a reminder about an appointment from continuous supervision. Identify whether the need was professionally assessed or observed by the family. Cognitive and organisational assistance can require careful evaluation, so avoid broad labels that conceal what the helper actually did or why it was necessary.
17. What if my relative remembers the duration differently?
Record and explore the difference rather than forcing agreement. One person may include waiting or social time while another counts only active assistance. Preserve the original notes and explain any correction. A transparent discrepancy can often be understood in context; a jointly polished account that conceals genuine uncertainty may create more difficulty when formal evidence is later examined.
18. Does a care-related settlement allow a deputy to pay themselves?
Not automatically. Authority, conflicts and the applicable Court of Protection framework may need consideration when managing money for someone lacking capacity. The damages calculation and permission to make a family payment are separate questions. Obtain advice before transferring funds, particularly where the person controlling the account would also receive the payment or the arrangement is ongoing.
19. Should the family wait for settlement before asking for support?
No claim outcome should be assumed to solve current care needs. Seek appropriate health or social care advice when support is required, and keep the legal adviser informed about services and funding. A needs assessment or carer's assessment has a different purpose from the injury claim. Record assistance accurately while addressing practical needs through the suitable available routes.
20. What should I send a solicitor about unpaid care?
Provide a concise pre-injury baseline, a representative diary period, the names and roles of helpers, relevant professional assessments and any paid care records. Explain retrospective estimates, overlapping assistance and changes over time. Ask what further evidence is proportionate. Confirm the scope and fees of accepted legal instructions rather than assuming that sending a diary means the firm is acting.
