Compensation being paid out from schools is on the increase. It has been revealed that more than £12,000 was paid out to pupils in Derby last year.
The largest payment was for nearly £8,000, to a pupil who had cut their hand on broken glass in a door. There were also two claims settled for over £2,000, one for a fall in potholed grass and one for a hand trapped in a door.
Zurich Municipal, which works with the city council, dismissed fears of a compensation culture. They claim that new cases had actually fallen. Alan Hunter from Zurich Municipal insisted that the compensation culture was mostly a matter of perception. He said: “Some of the companies that really stoked this by going out and asking people on the street if they wanted to make a claim have gone out of business. There are lots of attempts to claim money, but many are spurious and we get rid of these.”
However, personal injury solicitor Martin Bradbury, said people should remember that compensation is sometimes deserved and that we should not dismiss claims offhand. He said: “There has been an increase in medical negligence claims but this has happened over a 10 year period as people become more aware of their rights.” He went on to say: “If someone injures themselves at school and it affects them during this crucial time or even into their working life, then the amounts talked about don’t seem so much.”
According to a new report there is a rise in false compensation claims being made by parents against schools in the hope of making money in out-of-court settlements, and lawyers are to blame. The National Association of Head Teachers said no-win no-fee lawyers encourage a wave of false allegations against schools and their staff. The NAHT said that parents know a claim for less than £12,000 would often be settled out-of-court by education authorities and are calling for justice, saying reputations of staff and schools are being wrongly damaged.
Dame Mary McDonald, a head teacher who has herself been the subject of a malicious allegation, said parents often made complaints hoping for settlements. She said she had heard of cases where insurance companies advised local education authorities to settle claims that might go over £12,000.
Another head said a complaint about a PE teacher at her school was settled out-of-court without her knowledge. The mother of a 13 year old girl who hurt her ankle whilst jumping on a trampoline, made the complaint. When the head followed up the allegation that the teacher had not acted with due care and attention, she found the matter had been settled by the education authority. She said: “This has caused enormous problems for my staff – the girl now says to other pupils ‘don’t do that, you might hurt yourself’. It knocks the confidence out of staff and bleeds dry school funds that could be better spent elsewhere.”
The Department for Education and Skills said it was keenly aware of the devastating effects of false compensation claims , but said that the number of allegations each year was very small in proportion to the number of children and staff in schools.