Ketchup Slip Teacher Awarded £230,000 Compensation

Essex County Council settled for £230,000 with a male teacher after he slipped on a Tomato Ketchup sachet and suffered severe injuries. Groups, including the Taxpayers’ Alliance, have condemned the settlement, which accounts for legal costs as well as losses to earnings and pensions, and compensation for the severity of the injuries suffered. A freedom of information request shows that the payment was just part of more than £1m paid to teachers by the council in three years.

Personal injury claims, and claims for accidents in the workplace, provide compensation to victims that suffer injuries and illnesses that are not their fault. Compensation is provided according to the extent of the injury, and a sum is also provided according to any loss of earnings and loss of other financial benefits, such as pension entitlements. The actual size of the compensation awarded, therefore, can vary considerably according to the details of the actual accident.

In the case of one teacher, Essex County Council opted to settle out of court, believing that the payment due would have been much higher when it included court and legal costs. Out of court settlement is a possibility with any such personal injury claim, although some insurance companies may demand that the case be contested.

A Freedom of Information request revealed the extent of the £230,000 payment. £90,000 was paid in damages for the extent of the injuries, while £120,000 was earmarked for legal fees and the remaining £20,000 we put aside for other costs. The request also showed that more than £1m was paid out during a three year period to teachers from the Essex district alone. A member of school staff was awarded £110,000 after slipping on a wet floor twice in the same day and suffering spinal injuries. One teacher was awarded £40,000 when a faulty metal door swung open.

Jonathan Isaby of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said that the payouts were a waste of taxpayer’s money. He went on to say that it meant that there was less money to pay teachers, and that it would result in higher tax bills for everybody else, in order to foot the bill for the compensation packages.

General PI NewsApr 14th, 20140 comments