Britain increasingly takes on American litigation craze

Going, going, gone; swings and slides and trips to the seaside. British schools are becoming more and more wary of lawsuits over accidents involving children and are responding defensively in order to protect themselves financially.

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Local education authorities (LEA) are facing significant payouts to the families of children that are involved in accidents even if the school is not at fault. Faced with a costly legal battle, LEA often choose to pay out rather than incur the cost of fighting a battle. Reportedly claims under £12,000 will not be contested. Subsequently some schools are reacting by removing play apparatus like slides and swings, and cancelling outings where a potential for an injury exists. As Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education says: "Schools become so risk-conscious they no longer present children with challenges and they are wrapped up in cotton wool." Teachers are also in the act! The National Union of Teachers (NUT), another bastion of left-wing thinking, has defended members who make claims for injuries on the job. An NUT spokesman said "Many of the claims result from premises or equipment which have not been sufficiently well maintained."

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Some claims are legitimate! But the rising number indicates less that schools are increasingly unsafe, but much more that the rate of litigation is rising because the payouts are available. (Some statistics have a rise of 24% in the last year). Add to this that an increasing number of lawyers are now offering no-fee-up-front services making the process of filing a claim much easier. The problem then becomes activist judges who can’t accept the premise that no-fault accidents occur, and are determined to penalize someone financially. Jonathan Isaby of the Taxpayer Alliance said "There is no doubt that the compensation culture has got completely out of hand. People need to accept that sometimes accidents do happen and no one is to blame." It is out of hand, and before it reaches American style the government needs to create stronger legislation to define when fault has occurred. Matthew Sinclair, also of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, speaking specifically about Teachers, said: “Taxpayers will be shocked by these figures, which demonstrate how much the worrying rise in the compensation culture in recent years is now costing us. Some of the claims will have been perfectly legitimate because of negligence, but a good number will either have been nobody’s fault or could have been avoided with a bit of common sense. At the end of the day, accidents do happen. Every penny spent on settling these claims means less money spent on educating children, which one would have hoped would be the teaching unions’ first priority.” Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley said "Some of these claims will be genuine and others will be people trying it on. I expect the legal costs are so inflated that it is sometimes easier just to settle." Selected incidents that have happened to teachers are certainly worthy of compensation. When a school worker is assaulted by 2 students while physically defending another school employee that individual may need paid time off to recuperate, as well as some counseling! But isn’t a payout of £268,787 excessive? The NUT will not release its figures but two other unions report securing combined payouts of almost £20million for schools personnel in 2011.

Tapping into the Taxpayers never-ending slush fund

The parents of children it seems are learning, they are learning that like those who watch over their children in school, they too can tap into the Taxpayers never-ending slush fund every time something happens to one of their little darlings. Some parents make the mistake of abdicating the responsibility of the education their children to schools. In fact, parents are responsible for their own children and the schools are merely a collective and efficient way to advance that. Parents should be working with schools and the children’s teachers for better outcomes. More and more the relationships have become adversarial, as immature adults with biological offspring once again see another way the state can fund their lives.

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