Compensation for Teachers Injuries Reaches New High

Estimates of how much compensation for teachers injuries was paid in 2011 suggest that more than 25 million pounds was awarded in damages for avoidable injuries both inside and outside the classroom last year – up 25 per cent from 2010.

Representatives of the UK´s leading teaching unions admitted that the amount of teachers injury compensation that was paid out in 2011 was a waste of taxpayers´ money and created a hole in the education budget, but blamed school heads and councils for failing to protect staff properly.

They pointed to several substantial settlements which were paid as compensation for teachers exposed to asbestos and compensation for teachers injuries due to a physical assault by a parent or student – one such incident resulting in the teacher sustaining permanent brain damage.

Among reasons given for the most frequent claims for teacher injury compensation were trips and slips on school property, injuries sustained due to criminal attacks and employment disputes, where teachers claimed they had been wrongly dismissed, discriminated against or ill-treated by their employers.

Union leaders also highlighted the increased amount of stress that teachers are placed under due to excessive workloads and claimed that this led to staff taking more short cuts – with one teacher successfully claiming compensation for a classroom fall after trying to erect a class display while standing on a desk.

Chris Keates – General Secretary of the NASUWT union – said “Employers who deliberately flout the law are not only causing distress, ill-health and job losses; they are costing taxpayers millions of pounds. Behind each of these cases is a person whose life has been damaged through serious injury or unfair dismissal from their chosen career.”