Children, schools and a large piece of cotton wool

29/01/2009

By Jonathan Clement, Partner in Personal Injury. Featured in the Law Society Gazette (titled 'Turning Play into Pay').

Is it me or is the latest bandwagon for those who wish to pedal the myth of a "Compensation Culture" that schools and school children are no longer able to undertake activities and trips that we all enjoyed when growing up.

It is not unusual for the claimant personal injury lawyer to feel that the whole world is against them (I am sure at some point we will be blamed for the credit crunch) but just recently I have noticed an awful lot of attention being paid to personal injury claims on behalf of children who have been injured whilst at school or on school trips.

The result is, and I speak as a father of three very lively boys, that both ourselves as parents and indeed schools wish to put a large piece of cotton wool around the children to protect them from these perceived problems.

Is that really the fault of claimant personal injury lawyers? The usual ridiculous myths have been reported as fact by the media and indeed picked up upon by headline seeking politicians in their conference speeches. I speak of course regarding such matters as apparently, health and safety law preventing teachers being able to put a plaster on a child's knee; children having to wear goggles when playing conkers and schools not being able to use egg boxes in art lessons for fear of salmonella poisoning. In this respect I would refer you to the excellent 'Myth of the Month' section of the Health and Safety Executives website www.hse.gov.uk.

This simply is not the reality of the situation. Given the approximate 8.2 million or so children of school age in England 399 payouts for compensation during 2007/2008 is arguably not a significant number with the average payout equating to the fairly modest sum of £4,400 per claim. Where are the stories, I wonder, about the vast majority of children who go to school safely each day and indeed on school trips without incident whose schools and parents have managed risk responsibly and proportionality.

It would appear that the government have also realised that scare tactics appear to be being utilised by the insurance industry. Schools secretary Ed Balls recently commented "it is time that the fear of compensation culture is consigned to history once and for all ………". This was in response to the recent outbreak of press stories regarding schools being sued.  He and his department have taken matters further by creating the 'Out and About' scheme which aims to give schools guidance on safe outings. Dare I say it but Mr Balls also used the analogy of cotton wool!

You have to ask yourself the question who benefits from this perception that there is a need for the use of cotton wool when managing our children's education. Is it the children? Well certainly not as they are denied the opportunities to broaden their horizons. Is it the claimant personal injury lawyer? Well logic would say no as with less risks being taken this would equate to fewer acts of negligence and therefore fewer personal injury claims. Is it the schools and teachers? The answer has to be no as they are denied opportunities to assist in their already difficult jobs in educating our off spring.

This therefore leaves the insurance industry. Who benefits from the continued pedalling of these myths regarding these perceived spurious claims and the resultant over reaction to risk? Over-reaction to risk and risk assessment equals less claims and therefore a decrease in pay outs from the insurance industry. Unfortunately the logic does not then go on to dictate that premiums for public liability insurance will therefore decrease as this would of course effect profit margins.

Ultimately there is nothing wrong with exposing children to well managed risks but the scaremongering which ultimately forces schools and teachers into imposing excessive caution has to stop.