Quantum calculator
Periodical payments indexation calculator
The year-by-year indexed value of a periodical payment order annual payment under Damages Act 1996 section 2, using the Retail Prices Index default or an ASHE 6115 earnings index per Thompstone. Every payment is computed from the index values you enter, shown with its full working, and cited to the authority for the index mode applied.
Read how these calculators work on the quantum methodology page.
The ASHE 6115 and Retail Prices Index series are not loaded in this calculator. Every index value is an explicit input taken from the published Office for National Statistics series and must be verified at source.
Payment years
Enter each payment year with its published index value from the ONS series, marking each value as provisional or revised. Where a value has been revised, the prior provisional value can be recorded so the working marks the restatement.
What PPO indexation is
Damages Act 1996 section 2, as substituted by Courts Act 2003 section 100, empowers and requires courts to consider periodical payment orders for future pecuniary loss in personal injury claims. Instead of a single lump sum, the defendant pays an annual amount for as long as the order provides, and that amount is indexed so its value keeps pace with a published index.
Section 2(8) makes the Retail Prices Index the statutory default. Section 2(9) lets the court modify or disapply that default where fair and reasonable, and Flora v Wakom (Heathrow) Ltd held that modification is not limited to exceptional circumstances. In Thompstone the Court of Appeal approved substituting an earnings-related index, ASHE occupational group 6115 for care assistants and home carers, for care and case management payments, at the 75th percentile in that case. The NHS Litigation Authority abandoned its appeal to the House of Lords. In Thompstone itself the base was £8.50 per hour, fixed as a percentile of ASHE 6115, which is narrative context here and never a computed value.
This calculator models the arithmetic of an indexation provision. The payment for a year equals the base annual payment multiplied by that year's index value and divided by the base year index value. Each year is computed directly from the base year, never by chaining payment on payment. A provisional value later revised is recomputed against the revised value and the revision is marked in the working, and a reclassification note can record a successor series mapping so a renamed or re-coded series continues the chain. The calculator does not advise whether a periodical payment order should be made, which index applies, or how the order should be drafted.
Primary sources
- Damages Act 1996 section 2, as substituted by Courts Act 2003 section 100. Verify the consolidated text on legislation.gov.uk. The deep link to the substituted section has not yet been verified at source.
- Flora v Wakom (Heathrow) Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1103. A verified primary-source link is not yet recorded for this judgment.
- Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust v Thompstone [2008] EWCA Civ 5, [2008] 1 WLR 2207. A verified primary-source link is not yet recorded for this judgment.
Frequently asked questions
What is periodical payments indexation?
Under Damages Act 1996 section 2, as substituted by Courts Act 2003 section 100, courts must consider ordering damages for future pecuniary loss in personal injury cases as periodical payments. Section 2(8) provides that the payments vary by reference to the Retail Prices Index by default, so the payment for a year equals the base annual payment multiplied by that year’s index value and divided by the base year index value.
Why do many care PPOs use ASHE 6115 instead of RPI?
Section 2(9) allows the court to modify or disapply the Retail Prices Index default where fair and reasonable. Flora v Wakom (Heathrow) Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1103 held that modification is not limited to exceptional circumstances, and Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust v Thompstone [2008] EWCA Civ 5, [2008] 1 WLR 2207 approved substituting an earnings-related index, ASHE occupational group 6115 (care assistants and home carers), at the 75th percentile in that case, for care and case management periodical payments. The NHS Litigation Authority abandoned its appeal to the House of Lords.
How is each year’s payment calculated?
The payment for a year equals the base annual payment multiplied by that year’s index value and divided by the base year index value. Every year is computed directly from the base year, never by chaining payment on payment year to year, and only the displayed payment for each year is rounded, to the penny. These are modelling conventions stated in the working, not statements of law.
What happens when the ONS revises a provisional index value?
Index values marked provisional may be revised by the Office for National Statistics. A restatement recomputes that year’s payment against the revised value and the working marks the revision. Other years are unaffected, because each year depends only on its own index value and the base year index value.
Does this calculator include the ONS index values?
No. The ASHE 6115 and Retail Prices Index series are not loaded in this calculator. Every index value is an explicit user input and must be taken from the published Office for National Statistics series and verified at source before reliance.
Does this calculator advise which index applies?
No. The choice of index is judicial. The Retail Prices Index is the statutory default under section 2(8) and modification under section 2(9) is for the court, on evidence, where fair and reasonable. This calculator computes the arithmetic of an indexation provision only. Whether a periodical payment order is appropriate at all, and the terms of the order including the Thompstone schedule, must be assessed separately.