TUC: Compensation culture is a myth

Friday, 20 May 2005 12:00 AM

Britain is not burdened by a compensation culture, according to new figures from the Trade Union Congress.

The TUC has found that less than one in ten of those people who fall ill or are injured in the workplace receive a compensatory payout.

About 850,000 people suffer injury or fall ill at work each year. But only 80,000 claimants are recompensed by employers or the state.

Less than half of the 60,000 workers who applied to the Government's industrial injuries scheme last year received a payout, the research found.

The average compensation claim was £10,000, a figure that is often halved after legal and administrative costs are covered.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Some employers and commentators would have us believe that the UK is caught up in a compensation culture frenzy."

Mr Barber added that it was a myth that those with very slight injuries could get huge compensation payouts on a whim, while the reality is that UK employers did not take health and safety seriously enough.

The TUC called for a "complete overhaul" of the current compensation system, which it claims cheats injured workers out of billions of pounds.

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