£570k compensation paid out to NI schoolchildren

absoluteutopia

What a joke society we live in, we always had bruised knees and cuts at school all due to doing something we shouldnt have been doing

More than £570,000 has been paid out in compensation claims to school children in Northern Ireland since 2008, new figures have revealed.
Documents from NI's education and library boards show that in one case a six-year-old boy received £70,000 after a door was closed on his thumb.
In another incident a 14-year-old was paid £62,500 when he was hurt while climbing to retrieve a football.
The figures were released to the Belfast Telegraph.
In total £578,120 was paid out by education boards between 2008-2011. The Southern Education and Library Board had the biggest bill at £245,059 for 12 claims, while the North Eastern Education and Library Board spent £129,250 on compensating injured pupils.
Teachers' unions have blamed TV advertisements for creating a "compensation culture" in Northern Ireland.
Seamus Searson of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) said the claims were an "administrative nightmare" for schools.
He said he believed just 2% of claims were justified.
"When we were all youngsters we all got knocks and bangs everywhere and we didn't go out and sue everybody," he told the Belfast Telegraph.
"Accidents happened and unfortunately in the society we live in people claim for damages."
Mr Searson said boards had been forced to settle many claims out of court to avoid huge legal bills.
Mervyn Storey, the chairman of the assembly's education committee, said although some claims may have been genuine, many were not.
Continue reading the main story Compensation paid by education boards from 2008-2011

SELB - £245,059.84
SEELB - £107,000
WELB - £31,534.50
BELB - £65,276.05
NEELB and BELB - £129,250
TOTAL - £578,120.39

"This is another bill that the education and library boards have to find," he added. "There needs to be an understanding that the people who are ultimately paying for that are ourselves and the school community.
"Clearly I think there is a problem in terms of the claim culture that we have. That is not to say there are not circumstances that the parent may feel there is a genuine grievance and that needs to be addressed."
In a statement the SELB, which paid out more than half of the total claims, said there was "no clear pattern from year to year as regards the level or type of claim".
"The board is mindful of the public purse and continually monitors its policies and procedures with a view to minimising payments. It only makes payments on receipt of legal advice," it added.

fadetogrey

Another sign of the times we live in.When you have the ambulance chasers with their "no win no fee" adverts people will claim for anything.They seem to believe because its paid out by insurance theres no harm done but in the end schools pay in higher premiums and that will mean less to spend on the school classes.Its small wonder children are barred from playing conkers or many other games we took for granted when we were young,teachers are frightened if little jimmy has a fall in the school playground the lawyer arrives before the ambulance .

yorkie98

Well done to all the greedy parents who claim for these kind of things, they have collectively STOLEN over half a million pounds from our education system which should have been spent on books, staff, computers, building refurbs etc...etc...

It's about time people remembered that sometimes S**T HAPPENS, wipe away the crocodile tears and move on.

redped

Unbelievable! I should have claimed when I was playing cricket at school, and was hit in an er, delicate area by the ball . Good job I was wearing a cricket box at the time :j.

Pretani

bankrupt the country from within, and make it unvisitable from the outside.......the plan is going quite well!!!!!

D.A.

Pretani wrote: »

bankrupt the country from within, and make it unvisitable from the outside.......the plan is going quite well!!!!!

You wouldn't happen to be a DUP/TUV voter by any chance?

Pretani

no, i'm alliance

fadetogrey

Pretani wrote: »

no, i'm alliance

Ahh!! YOUR their voter..:p

crazyguy

I reckon £'s per head it will be lower than accross the pond ?

Artofdookie

Sad times, my young lad fell on a slippy floor at school and had to get stitches (he should have been walking as told and not ignored the signs). He was delighted at getting the rest of the week off, i couldnt have showed my face near the school if id even considered taking them up. Mind you lots of parents outside the gates suggested to his Granny that there was a wee claim in it

Artofdookie

fadetogrey wrote: »

Ahh!! YOUR their voter..:p

David Ford has already been on the phone to MSE hq to get his details to thank him