Teachers and pupils sustaining injury in schools across the North East have made more than £200,000 in personal injury claims against the region’s councils, recently released figures indicate.
A recently filed freedom of information request found that pupils have been in receipt of anywhere from as little as £50 to as much as £23,000 in personal injury compensation for slips, trips, and falls over the past two years. One pupil in Newcastle was given more than £6,000 for a slip on a flight of stairs, the figures indicate, while another was paid in excess of £11,500 when he was accidentally struck in the face.
Other accident claim awards included a £7,000 payment made to a student in Northumberland who received a nasty cut on his foot from a tile, while a North Tyneside student who suffered injury when the rope swing he was using snapped was awarded £2,500 for his pain and suffering.
Students were not the only group to have made claims for injuries that had occurred on school grounds. According to the figures, more than £80,000 in compensation was paid out to teachers throughout the past two years as well.
One Newcastle City Council spokesperson commented on the figures by stating that even though teachers try to be as responsible as possible in making schools as safe as possible for their students, schools could never be completely and utterly free from accidents. The spokesperson also said that unfounded claims were always defended by the council, but if it was found to be responsible for the injuries, it gladly paid the injured party the requisite compensation amounts.