Worker’s theatre fall cost council £318k in compensation payout
EVERY year councils settle compensation claims which can run into the tens of thousands of pounds for the recipient – occasionally more.
Payouts are only made when the claimant has suffered a loss, such as an injury, due to negligence on behalf of the local authority.
While injuries caused by slips and trips are perhaps the best-known category, damage caused by potholes can also cost councils.
And, as these Freedom of Information responses provided to the Local Democracy Reporting Service show, there are also payouts for assaults, flood damage, data protection breaches, and emotional and psychiatric damage.
A number of cyclists have successfully claimed after becoming unseated by potholes and suffering injuries.
And very occasionally a council may have to settle a claim for failing to remove a vulnerable young person from their home, or for sexual abuse while a young person was in care.
Council employees also receive payouts in certain instances. It’s hard not to wince when you hear that a Gwynedd Council employee got their finger caught between a gatepost and moving vehicle.
The most expensive case identified was the £318,000 settlement in Carmarthenshire after a member of council staff fell at a theatre.
Meanwhile, £109,971 was paid out for a head injury sustained by a member of the public in Powys.
Practising barrister Paul Hewitt, who is mainly based in Cardiff, has defended councils in compensation claims and also represented claimants.
He said councils have public and employers’ liability insurance to provide protection.
Claim numbers soared, he said, when the “no win, no fee” mechanism replaced the right to legal aid for personal injury cases just over 20 years ago.
“From that point on, personal injury claims exploded – and so did insurance premiums for councils,” said Mr Hewitt.
While a practising solicitor in Swansea early in his career, Mr Hewitt recalled defending a local authority against a claim from a council house tenant.
Mr Hewitt said the tenant claimed they had hurt their ankle tripping over an drainage cover in the garden which was apparently sticking up.
“The council refused to settle the claim, so it went to court,” said Mr Hewitt.
“The damage [to the ankle] was assessed at £4,000 – the issue was liability.”
He said the court rejected the claim, which saved the council not only the £4,000 but about £9,000 in solicitors’ costs. Furthermore, the legal firm which represented the tenant had submitted costs of £25,000.
Mr Hewitt said the legal costs were covered by an insurance policy which the tenant would have had to take out before going to court.
Asked about the process when a
member of the public approached him with a slip or trip compensation claim, Mr Hewitt said: “We would ask the person where they fell over, and we would go out and take photos, take a full set of instructions and a full statement.”
A “pre-action” letter, he said, would then be sent to the council, which in turn would investigate the matter.
Mr Hewitt said the council’s insurers might accept liability, in which case a medical report would be prepared about the claimant’s injuries and a value put on them. A small percentage, he said, went to court.
A spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: “If the council is negligent, insurers look to settle the
claim. If the council is not negligent, then the insurers deny liability.
“If the third party doesn’t agree with the insurer’s liability decision, the third party can issue court proceedings.”
The Freedom of Information request asked councils how much they had paid out for claims involving members of the public and employees for the past three years, numbers of claims, and highest payouts with a brief summary of the claim.
Follow-up requests were submitted in instances where councils declined to provide highest payouts or summaries thereof.
Some of the figures in the panels may include legal costs but others don’t.