Comments In The Press
On Friday 2nd October 2009 the Gloucestershire Echo led with a front page story that schools in Gloucestershire have paid out £60,000 in compensation to pupils and parents over the last 3 years. A spokesman for the County Council blamed this on the so-called compensation culture, and regretted that council tax payers had to foot the bill.
Davis Gregory director Tim Howarth was asked to comment on the story, and the Echo reported his comments at length.
“Under UK law, pupils who successfully claim compensation are not entitled to spend the money until they reach the age of 18, and all payouts between the Council and claimants are validated independently by a judge. Hysteria over a compensation culture have led to schools becoming ‘neurotic’ about health and safety.
‘I think people often get the wrong idea with the no win no fee phrase which gets bandied around. In many ways it is better now than it was when we had legal aid, because now solicitors will not take on cases which they do not think they have a reasonable chance of winning. That means the smaller, nonsensical cases which the courts do not like will not make it to that stage.
‘If someone is legitimately injured, why should the child just have to grin and bear it? It is not a case of ‘easy money’ and it does act to concentrate schools’ minds on taking reasonable precautions. As long as you are being sensible, then you have nothing to worry about.”
