SAFETY INFORMATION

Safety file Nov 06

The Beginning Of The End For The Claims Culture

Senior figures within the British Justice System are concerned with the assumption that for every injury someone is to blame.

Lord Phillips, The Master of the Rolls, overseeing the work of the civil courts, has suggested that councils were effectively being blackmailed into paying compensation because they can not afford to fight claims and it is often less expensive to settle. He also reported that around 10% of these claims are estimated to be false.

In an interview with the BBC, Lord Phillips expressed his concern that companies were taking unreasonable steps to protect themselves from being sued. He mentioned, as an example, local authorities cutting down trees because of the danger that a child might be hurt climbing one, “If you are too obsessed about the risk of getting sued, you can take steps which stop people enjoying the kind of pastimes that people have always had in this country”

Arrow Leisure Services operate within an industry sector where this obsession is apparent : the ceasing of sunbed provision, schools and community workers cancelling off-site trips, climbing walls being closed and the cancellation of pool inflatable sessions.

Lord Phillips warned that it would become harder for people to sue successfully if they were hurt pursuing leisure activities, “What’s called for is for the population as a whole to have a reasonably balanced approach to indulging in these pastimes.”

More recently, at a speech given in London on 10th November, Lord Falconer, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor spoke with passion about his concerns and ideas.

Lord Falconer stated that compensation was not being awarded in a different way than previously, simply that stories and advertising create the impression that claims are encouraged and people should ‘have a go’.

The basic principles remain the same, as Lord Thoroton explained, “It is right that where someone is injured through the negligence or wrong-doing of another, the victim should be compensated. This, at heart, is a rational way to redistribute costs. It ensures that the wrong-doer pays. I am opposed to the idea, or anything that promotes the idea, that where there is an accident, there is always compensation.”

As an example, Lord Thoroton criticised the impression given by one advertisement that featured a young woman looking at a sports car and saying, “I’ve always wanted one of those and now I have had an accident I can have one.”

More seriously, as with Lord Phillips, Lord Thoroton expressed concern over the impact that the fear of claims is having. He illustrated that the fear of compensation was the critical issue because the number of claims in the past four years has remained static; in fact, in the year to March 2004 the number had fallen by 9.5%. However, despite these figures, many believe, through the stories they hear and advertising they see, that claims are being settled at a much increasing rate.