Fatal Accidents Act 1976

The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that allows relatives of people killed by the wrongdoing of others to recover damages.

Background
The Fatal Accidents Act 1846 had allowed claims for damages by the relatives of deceased persons for the first time. The 1976 act modernised the process and repealed earlier legislation.

The act
The act allows claims as stipulated in s. 1(1):

The act allows claims under three heads:
 * Dependency claim (s. 1) - A claim for economic loss by a restricted class of "dependant" defined in s.1(3).
 * Bereavement claim (s. 1A) - A claim in recognition of grief by a further restricted class of "dependant", similar to a solatium in Scottish law. As of 1 May 2020, the amount of the bereavement claim award increased from £11,800 to £15,120.
 * Funeral expenses (s. 3(5)) of the dependants.

An award must take account of any social security benefits received (s. 4).