English Councils Paid £4 Million to Settle 6,000 School Injury Claims Over Two Years

Local councils across England paid almost £4 million to settle around 6,000 school injury claims over the past two years, GB News reported. The data came from a Freedom of Information request covering payouts for incidents that ranged from playground falls to failures in duty of care. Newcastle City Council awarded £4,000 to a pupil who burned a lip on a toasted marshmallow.

West Northamptonshire Council paid £20,000 after a child tripped while running toward a bouncy castle. Wirral Council made one of the larger individual payments, awarding £67,000 to a child who suffered an eye injury from a door handle. Other settlements included nearly £22,000 paid by Islington to a pupil who lost part of a finger and £40,000 by Essex Council in a case involving abuse by a teacher.

Haringey Council paid £4,460 after a pupil fell from a wheelchair during transfer from a mobility vehicle. Five-figure sums were also recorded for injuries involving hockey sticks, astroturf, and a child pushed off a slide. Shimeon Lee, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said serious negligence warrants compensation but added that some payouts would leave taxpayers baffled.

Christopher McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, described the compensation culture in schools as a runaway train and said legal firms advertise online to attract grievance-seeking parents. Guy Forster, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, stated that compensation applies only when negligence by the school or authority has occurred, not for accidents that could not have been foreseen.