TUC dismisses compensation myths
Concerns that Britain is struggling to deal with a growing ‘compensation culture’ have been dismissed by the TUC in a new report.
Contrary to fears that the country is heading towards a US-style confrontational workplace atmosphere, the unions’ group finds the number of civil compensation claims has actually fallen since 2000.
The TUC also challenges recent reports suggesting expensive compensation cases are becoming more common, finding that nine out of ten injured or sick staff do not receive a payout at all.
It says high-value payments are very rare, with the average amount standing at £5,000, while the UK forks out less compensation money as a proportion of its GDP than most other countries in Europe.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the report was commissioned to dispel the growing number of myths surrounding compensation claims – and to prevent genuine cases being ignored.
“The harsh reality for thousands of ill and injured workers is very different, with most getting little if anything when things go wrong at work as a result of their employers’ negligence,” he said.
The report refutes suggestions that compensation is costing UK business dear, indicating the average cost is just 0.25 per cent of firms’ total payroll costs.
However, it suggests more could be done to reduce compensation costs – employers with good health and safety practices should be rewarded, while insurance premiums could be raised for those who continually fail to improve safety records.
“If insurance premiums more closely reflected an employer’s health and safety record, with those happy to put their employees at risk paying more and those with safer workplaces paying less, we might start to see an improvement in the UK’s poor accident and illness statistics,” Mr Barber added.
“Cutting our compensation bill is easy, but first UK bosses have to get serious about improving health and safety.”
