Figures released by Middlesbrough Council have shown the extent to which compensation was paid to school pupils over the past few years.
In total, between 2008 and 2011, the council paid more than £34,000 in personal injury compensation to injured schoolchildren or their parents. The figure itself is not all that remarkable in this age of health and safety awareness, but the individual awards deserve scrutiny as a means of gaining an insight into the safety of schools in Middlesbrough.
One case involved a student who was awarded £4,250 after falling during cheerleading practice. It could be argued that cheerleading practice carries an inherent risk of injury from slips, trips and falls, but if instructors had acted negligently in overseeing the session, compensation would be deserved. Negligence in this context might describe cramped gym conditions or inappropriate or unqualified instruction to students.
Another case revealed by Middlesbrough Council was that of a child who was awarded £3,750 after trapping a finger in a gate at school. The circumstances of this case were not made clear in an article published by the Daily Mail, but it can be assumed that the school in question ought to have ensured, so far as is reasonably possible, that gates and fences were relatively safe.
Another student received £4,500 after falling over while attempting to jump between benches. Again, the circumstances of the accident were not made clear – had the child been voluntarily jumping between the benches without permission, it could be argued that he was solely responsible for the accident. It could also be argued, however, that the pupil ought to have been properly supervised on school grounds.
Conservative MP, James Wharton, quipped: "This compensation culture has to stop. People should not feel entitled to claim for any minor incident, though of course where there has been a serious injury there needs to be redress. At a time when public finances are tight these sorts of claims bring our whole legal system into disrepute. This is money which could have been spent on frontline services or reducing the council tax burden for local people."
While Mr Wharton may have a point on one level, personal injury claims should not be ignored or disregarded simply because an injury is not especially serious or the Government intends to reduce public spending. Negligence law is not a recent phenomenon and the so-called 'compensation culture' is arguably just a consequence of the public's heightened awareness of its legal rights.
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