Personal injury news

More than £2m compensation paid to teachers

Compensation payments to teachers over accidents and pupil attacks have soared to record levels in the past five years, according to new figures.

The National Union of Teachers said its members were awarded about £2 million last year after hundreds of incidents in schools.

One teacher suffered scalding when a pupil poured a kettle of boiling water over her, while another died from exposure to asbestos dust, the NUT said.

The details follow calls from the NUT's annual conference in Gateshead for greater protection against violent and unruly pupils.

Ministers have promised a "zero tolerance" approach to poor behaviour in the classroom, while the chief schools inspector has warned that discipline is getting worse.

The NUT said many of the payments were for "slips and trips" on carpets and wet floors, blaming dilapidated school buildings for some of the accidents.

Speaking to journalists at the conference, Graham Clayton, NUT senior solicitor, said: "The volume of these cases is still something of a reflection of the state of school buildings.

"We have still to look forward to making an improvement in the accident figures."

He said compensation payments had "certainly increased significantly over the past five years" to an estimated £2 million.

Total pay-outs could rise to £6 million as other claims are settled thanks to the court precedents from the 200 completed cases last year, Mr Clayton said.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "There is no evidence to suggest that compensation payouts to teachers are at record levels.

"We are spending record amounts to upgrade school buildings and replace temporary buildings. After decades of chronic under funding we have increased spending on school buildings from £683 million in 1997 to £6.3 billion in the period 2007-08 - a massive six-fold increase in real terms.

"Every secondary school across the country will be refurbished or replaced under our Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Thirty eight local authorities are already part of BSF and will receive a share of over £6 billion in capital funding between 2005 -2008."

Compensation cases included:

The teacher in Newcastle who was scalded suffered loss of earnings and was paid £5,000 by the local education authority.

One woman contracted cancer after being exposed to asbestos dust at a school. The claim was continued on behalf of her estate and she was awarded £135,237.

A music teacher in North East Lincolnshire received £40,000 in compensation after suffering "noise induced hearing loss and tinnitus due to over exposure to musical instruments".

Another teacher from North East Lincolnshire received £108,000 after slipping on a wet toilet floor and permanently injuring her knee. She was unable to return to work.

One teacher in a school in west London received £2,750 from her local authorities after falling off a chair during a risk assessment meeting.

Source: http://www.teachers.org.uk