While it may sound like a a scene from an old episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, the more than £5,000 in personal injury compensation was recently awarded to a council employee after she injured herself by tumbling fro her bed while she attempted to answer her telephone.
Accident claims experts recently said that council staff across the UK have collected £75 million in personal injury claims compensation payments over the past half a decade for accidents that occurred while on the job. A long line of payouts, which would be funny if they weren’t true, revealed how another council worker received a nearly £6,000 payout because they broke their wrist after they fell during a first aid demonstration.
Taxpayers have borne the brunt of these costs, since a large number of local councils had no choice but to pay their insurance providers quite hefty excess fees. In one example, Manchester City Council revealed that their insurance policies did not pay for any compensation costs until they reached £250,000 – and the council paid out a total of £2.6 million in claims.
Manchester City Council was one of 13 local authorities which had no choice but to to pay out on more than £1 million in claims after admitting liability for the injuries of its staff in accidents occurring at work.
The dubious honour of the most paid out went to Birmingham City Council, which had to spend £4.9 million on 274 payments. Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council followed in the second-most expensive spot, with 152 staff being awarded £3 million in compensation.
Some of the most expensive payouts were to former council workers who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma following asbestos exposure that occurred on the job.