SCHOOLS’ COMPO CLAIMS HIT £3M

A WHOPPING £175,000 in compensation was paid to schoolchildren attacked by classmates last year. The payouts were made after councils admitted they were liable in relation to the assaults. Almost £3million was paid in compensation to children injured in English schools either through assaults or accidents. The biggest individual payout last year for a fight was £41,378 to a pupil at a school in Croydon, London, who was jumped on by a gang of fellow pupils. The boy was knocked to the ground, hit his head and had two front teeth knocked out. In Essex a total of £55,350 was paid to four students hurt in separate assaults by fellow students. Compensation was also paid to pupils injured in accidents. The largest settlement was by Kent County Council which paid £195,000 to a student injured when a sash window dropped on their head. Another student hit on the head when a vase fell off a shelf received £5,000. Other accident settlements included £61,000 paid by Bradford Council to a child who suffered hand injuries from a sanding machine. Another £2,750 was paid to an East Sussex pupil who suffered third degree burns in a science lesson. MATTHEW DAVIS Almost £5,000 went to a child on the Isle of Wight who slipped in a rounders game after being allowed to play in the wrong shoes. Last year’s payout of £2.9million for 291 claims was almost double the previous year’s total. Critics of the settlements say lawyers are responsible for bringing the “compensation culture” into the classroom, with the result that legal action is started for everyday “accidents” such as trips, slips and PE injuries. Experts believe the actual cost to councils is probably nearer £6million once an allowance has been made for the legal costs of the cases. John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “The authorities must root out anyone who is playing the system with spurious demands for taxpayers’ cash. Every penny paid out in compensation is a penny taken away from teaching budgets.” Neil Sugarman of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said: “Negligence is at the bottom of all cases resulting in compensation. “A local authority’s bank balance should never be given precedence over the rights of a child who was injured because someone did not take, or could not be bothered to take, proper care to avoid needless pain and suffering.”