It was recently discovered that South Wales councils have paid out a grand total of £45,000 on personal injury claims brought by pupils that suffered personal injuries in accidents at schools in the region.
According to accident claims experts writing for the South Wales Echo newspaper, area councils have made the figures available to the public in the wake of several freedom of information requests. The recently released figures demonstrate how Cardiff Council was the most generous across the past three years, with nine pupils receiving a total of £17,799 for injuries they sustained whilst upon school property.
Out of the other pupils that sustained injuries, six of them received more than £1,000 each in incident. Meanwhile, a grand total of two pupils actually received personal injury compensation awards of £5,000.
Regularly scheduled health and safety checks were performed at schools in the city throughout every term, a Cardiff Countil spokesperson said. Meanwhile, the council for Rhondda Cynon Taf revealed that it had paid out a total of £11,950 in damages, including a £3,000 personal injury compensation payment to a thirteen year old schoolgirl who had slipped on a step found to be defective, while £2,000 in damages was given to a young girl who suffered injuries at the hands of a stacked table, which fell upon her.
Caerphilly Council paid out on three compensation claims over the time period, with a total cost of £10,250. A council spokesperson released a statement in which he remarked that the safety of pupils was one of the most important issues facing area schools, but it was an inevitability that sometimes unforeseeable circumstances occur that sometimes led to accidents.