PUPILS POCKET £3.6M COMPO
Flying plates and hot food on list of school mishaps
PUPILS pocketed £3.6million in compensation last year for accidents in schools.
One child was awarded £2,100 by the local council after burning their mouth and throat on a hot school dinner.
The same council – Rotherham in South Yorks – paid £8,500 to a child who hurt their arm in a PE lesson and £2,200 to a pupil who got their fingers trapped in a faulty hinge.
Other local authority payouts included
£4,615 to a child hit by a school bell in Bradford, West Yorks, and £15,000 to a child injured while playing football in a Wolverhampton school hall when the goal collapsed on them.
The £3.6m paid out by councils in England last year, involving 264 separate claims, was up from £2.9m the previous year.
Many of the accidents that dented councils’ bank balances were related to sports.
These included Cheshire West and Chester Council who paid £7,108 to a child hurt while making a tackle in a charity football match.
Birmingham Council paid £8,467 to a child hurt by a swinging cricket bat, and
£6,000 was awarded to a child from Wakefield, West Yorks, who broke their foot while jumping into the shallow end of a swimming pool.
There were seven cases in which pupils were awarded compensation after being attacked by other students.
In Warwickshire, a pupil was awarded
£32,500 after being assaulted, while in Greenwich, London, £11,000 was paid to a child who was attacked by a student who had been excluded.
Staffordshire paid £100,000 to a student who suffered a back injury when they slipped on wet steps.
Haringey Council in London, paid £22,416 to a student burned during a cookery lesson, while Calderdale paid £6,675 to a child who suffered leg burns from a food spillage.
Another pupil who suffered face injuries after being hit by a flying china plate was given £2,500 in compensation by Central Bedfordshire Council.
Christopher McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, slammed the payouts. He said: “Children seriously injured as a consequence of a school’s neglect certainly merit compensation.
“In too many cases, however, the ‘injury’ is comparatively minor and should be regarded as a normal part of ‘growing up’.
“These days we have too many ambulance-chasing lawyers out to make some easy cash.
“Schools are now so risk averse that children are being robbed of physical challenges such as sport and outwardbound adventures.”
The record settlement for a single case is £1.26million paid in 2013 by Essex Council to Annie Woodland. She was 10 when she almost drowned on a school swimming lesson in Basildon.
Annie suffered brain damage and a court ruled the swimming teacher and pool lifeguard should have been more vigilant.