Can I Get an Interim Payment While My Claim Is Ongoing in Scotland?
Personal injury claims in Scotland take time. A straightforward road traffic accident claim where liability is quickly admitted and injuries resolve within a few months may settle within a year. A serious injury claim involving complex medical evidence, disputed liability, or long-term prognosis uncertainty may take two, three, or even more years from the date of the accident to the date of final resolution. A clinical negligence case against NHS Scotland can take considerably longer still.
For many claimants, that timescale creates a serious practical problem. The accident has happened. The injuries are real. The financial consequences are immediate. Lost earnings begin accumulating from the first day off work. Care costs begin from the moment care is needed. Medical expenses arise as treatment is sought. Mortgage payments, rent, household bills, and the ordinary costs of living do not pause while the legal process runs its course. And yet the compensation — the money that is supposed to address all of these consequences — will not arrive until the claim is finally resolved, which may be years away.
The result, in cases involving serious injury, can be genuine financial hardship. A claimant who was the household's primary earner and who cannot return to work faces a potentially devastating income gap during the currency of the claim. A claimant who requires expensive private treatment or care that they cannot fund from their own resources may be unable to access the rehabilitation they need. A claimant who needs to adapt their home or vehicle to accommodate a disability may not be able to afford the adaptations while the claim proceeds.
The law of Scotland recognises this problem and provides a solution. That solution is the interim payment — a payment on account of the compensation that will ultimately be due, made before the claim is finally resolved, which provides the claimant with financial support during the currency of the proceedings. Understanding what an interim payment is, when it is available, how it is obtained, and how it affects the overall settlement is essential for any seriously injured claimant in Scotland facing financial pressure during the claims process.
What Is an Interim Payment?
An interim payment is a payment made by the defender — or more precisely by the defender's insurer — on account of the damages that will ultimately be awarded or agreed in the claim. It is not the final settlement. It is an advance payment that is deducted from the total compensation when the case is eventually concluded.
The interim payment mechanism exists because the law recognises that the purpose of personal injury compensation is to address the real and immediate consequences of the defender's negligence — and that purpose is not served if seriously injured claimants must wait years for financial relief while those consequences accumulate. An interim payment delivers some of that relief early, without requiring the claim to be valued and settled before the medical picture is sufficiently clear to do so properly.
Interim payments are not unique to Scotland — they are available in personal injury litigation across the United Kingdom — but the specific procedural rules governing how they are obtained in Scotland are Scottish rules, and the process differs in detail from the equivalent English procedure.
When Is an Interim Payment Available?
An interim payment is only available once court proceedings have been raised. It cannot be sought or ordered before the action is formally before the court. This is an important practical point — the raising of court proceedings is a necessary precondition, and where a claimant needs financial support urgently, the timeline for raising proceedings may be accelerated to enable an interim payment application to be made sooner than would otherwise have been the case.
In the Sheriff Court, the relevant procedural rules are contained in the Ordinary Cause Rules and the rules of the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court. In the Court of Session, the equivalent rules apply. In both courts, the procedure for obtaining an interim payment involves an application to the court — known in Scotland as a motion — supported by appropriate evidence.
The court will make an order for interim payment where it is satisfied that three conditions are met. First, the defender has admitted liability for the accident. Second, or alternatively, the court is satisfied that if the action proceeded to proof, the pursuer would succeed on liability — that there is a sufficiently strong case that the defender was at fault. Third, the court is satisfied that the action is not one where liability would be defeated by a counterclaim or by some other defence that would eliminate the pursuer's entitlement to any damages.
Where liability is admitted, the application is relatively straightforward — the defender has conceded that they owe the claimant something, and the only question is how much to pay on account pending final resolution. Where liability is disputed, the application requires the court to make a preliminary assessment of the strength of the liability case without conducting a full proof — a more demanding exercise, but one that the court is equipped to undertake on the basis of the pleadings and the evidence presented in support of the motion.
How Much Can Be Awarded?
The amount of an interim payment is not the full value of the claim. The court will order a sum that it considers appropriate having regard to the likely final award — specifically, the court will not order an amount that is greater than a reasonable proportion of the damages which in the opinion of the court are likely to be recovered by the pursuer.
In practice, this means that the interim payment is typically calibrated against a conservative estimate of the minimum that the claimant is likely to recover at proof. The court will not order an interim payment that approaches or exceeds the likely final award — because if it did, and the final award turned out to be lower than the interim payment, the claimant would be required to repay the difference, which creates its own practical difficulties.
The amount sought in an interim payment application is therefore typically expressed as a reasonable proportion of the lowest realistic estimate of the final award — perhaps fifty to seventy percent of what the claimant's solicitor assesses as the conservative end of the likely range. This approach provides meaningful financial assistance while leaving sufficient headroom to ensure that the interim payment does not exceed whatever the final award turns out to be.
Where multiple interim payments are made over the course of a prolonged claim — which is possible where the claim is very long-running and the claimant's needs continue — each subsequent payment is assessed against the total likely award less any amounts already paid.
The Application Process
The application for an interim payment in a Scottish personal injury claim is made by motion to the court. The motion is supported by a note — a written submission setting out the basis of the application — and by any relevant evidence, which typically includes the medical report establishing the injuries and their impact, the special damages schedule setting out the financial losses incurred to date and projected into the future, and any other material relevant to the assessment of the likely final award.
The defender has the opportunity to respond to the motion — to oppose it entirely, to concede it, or to propose a lower figure than the amount sought. Where the motion is opposed, a hearing takes place at which both sides make submissions to the sheriff or judge, who then makes a decision on whether to grant the application and if so in what amount.
Where the motion is not opposed — where the defender agrees that an interim payment is appropriate and the only dispute is about the amount — the process is typically dealt with by agreement without the need for a contested hearing. Many interim payment applications in Scottish personal injury claims are resolved by negotiation between the solicitors rather than by a court hearing, with the agreed sum being recorded in a minute of agreement rather than a court order.
Voluntary Interim Payments
Not all interim payments in Scottish personal injury claims are made pursuant to a court order. Many are made voluntarily by the defender's insurer without any application to the court being necessary. Where liability has been admitted and the insurer accepts that significant compensation will ultimately be due, there is often a commercial logic to making voluntary interim payments — it reduces the interest accruing on the outstanding balance, it avoids the cost of defending an interim payment application, and it maintains a constructive relationship with the claimant's solicitor during the ongoing claim.
Voluntary interim payments are agreed between the solicitors and documented in correspondence. They carry the same effect as court-ordered interim payments — they are on account of the final damages and are deducted from the ultimate settlement or award. They are typically easier and quicker to obtain than court-ordered payments because they do not require the procedural steps of a formal application.
Where the insurer is engaging constructively and liability is admitted, the claimant's solicitor will often approach the insurer directly to request a voluntary interim payment before commencing formal court proceedings. This approach can produce financial relief for the claimant more quickly than the court application route and without the additional costs that a contested motion would generate.
What Can Interim Payments Be Used For?
Once received, an interim payment can be used by the claimant for any purpose. There is no restriction on how the money is spent — it is the claimant's money, paid on account of compensation they are entitled to receive, and they are free to use it as they choose.
In practice, interim payments in serious personal injury cases tend to be used for the purposes that created the most pressing financial need in the first place — meeting living costs during a period of inability to work, funding private medical treatment or rehabilitation that would otherwise be inaccessible, covering care costs that the claimant is currently meeting from savings or borrowing, funding necessary adaptations to the home or vehicle, or clearing debts that accumulated during the period of financial difficulty following the accident.
The use of an interim payment for rehabilitation is particularly significant from both the claimant's and the insurer's perspective. Early access to appropriate rehabilitation — physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological support, or specialist treatment — can accelerate recovery and reduce the overall value of the claim by improving the claimant's functional outcome. An insurer who funds interim payments for rehabilitation may ultimately pay less in total compensation because the claimant recovers more fully than they would have done without the treatment. This shared interest in rehabilitation is one of the reasons why voluntary interim payments for treatment purposes are relatively commonly agreed.
The Effect of an Interim Payment on the Final Settlement
When the claim is finally resolved — whether by negotiated settlement or by a court award at proof — the interim payment or payments already made are deducted from the total. If the claim settles for one hundred and fifty thousand pounds and an interim payment of forty thousand pounds has already been made, the balance payable on settlement is one hundred and ten thousand pounds.
This deduction is straightforward in most cases. Where there has been a single interim payment and a single final settlement, the arithmetic is simple. Where there have been multiple interim payments, all of them are deducted from the final figure. And where the final award at proof turns out to be lower than the total interim payments already made — a situation that arises rarely but is possible where the claim was overestimated at the interim stage — the claimant is technically required to repay the excess. This is one of the reasons why courts are cautious about the level of interim payments ordered — to avoid creating repayment obligations that the claimant may find difficult to meet.
Interim Payments in Fatal Accident Claims
Interim payments are available in fatal accident claims in Scotland under the Damages (Scotland) Act 2011 in the same way as in personal injury claims. Where a family has lost a loved one through another's negligence and faces immediate financial hardship — particularly where the deceased was the primary earner — an interim payment can provide critical financial support while the full claim is prepared and valued.
The loss of support element of a fatal accident claim is often the most pressing financial need, and an interim payment calibrated against a conservative assessment of the likely loss of support award can provide meaningful relief to a surviving spouse or partner who is struggling to meet household expenses without the deceased's income.
Practical Considerations
There are several practical considerations that affect how the interim payment mechanism operates in individual cases.
The timing of the application matters. An interim payment application made very early in proceedings — before substantial evidence is assembled and before the court has a clear picture of the likely final award — may produce a lower figure than one made later when the medical evidence and the special damages schedule are more developed. Your solicitor will advise on the optimal timing of the application in your specific circumstances.
The financial urgency of the claimant's position is a relevant consideration in terms of whether to apply for a court order or to seek a voluntary payment. Where the need is immediate and acute, a formal application may be the most appropriate route even if it involves additional cost and procedural steps. Where there is some flexibility in timing, a negotiated voluntary payment may produce a better outcome at lower cost.
The relationship between the interim payment and any ongoing benefits the claimant is receiving also requires consideration. Social security benefits received during the period of the claim are subject to recoupment by the Department for Work and Pensions from the compensation award under the Compensation Recovery Unit regime. Your solicitor will advise on how the interim payment interacts with any benefits position and how the recoupment rules apply.
The Bottom Line
An interim payment is not a concession of the full value of the claim. It is a practical mechanism that acknowledges the real and immediate financial consequences of serious injury and provides meaningful relief before the full claim can be properly valued and settled. It is available in Scotland once court proceedings are raised, either by court order or by voluntary agreement with the insurer, and it is particularly valuable in cases involving serious injury, significant lost earnings, or substantial ongoing care costs.
For any claimant in Scotland facing financial pressure during the currency of a serious personal injury claim, understanding that this mechanism exists — and instructing a solicitor who will pursue it promptly and effectively where the circumstances justify it — can make a significant practical difference to the experience of the claims process and to the claimant's ability to access the treatment and support they need while awaiting final resolution.