It has been revealed that Midlothian Council has paid out over £40,000 in personal injury compensation in the last five years for accidents at work suffered by teachers in schools. The slip and trip accidents include teachers who have fallen over and had things land on them. The biggest claim was for more than £17,000 in compensation for deafness.

Six more teaching staff have injury claims outstanding against Midlothian Council for injuries involving a circular saw, slipping on ice and even a chemical explosion.

One teacher even received £278 in compensation for injury after they fell over a bin in school. A youth worker also received more than £11,000 when they fell over the rope that was anchoring a bouncy castle.

The Campaign For Real Education’s Nick Seaton claimed that councils in the UK were making if too easy for compensation claims for injury to brought against them.

Nick stated:

People are taking advantage of the compensation culture and you would think that their consciences would tell them that this money would be better used to benefit pupils than on frivolous or unjustified claims.

The council did reject a claim from a janitor who tried to claim compensation for depression after he tripped over in the car park.

A spokesperson for the NASUWT, the teaching union, stated:

We would always support a member who was going for justified compensation if the authority or school has been at fault on health and safety grounds.