“Britain suffers from a ‘compensation culture’ that deprives schools and hospitals of nearly ?700 million a year that could be spent on extra teachers and nurses, a close ally of Tony Blair says today. Stephen Byers, the former Trade Secretary who advises the Prime Minister on policy, is calling for sweeping legal reforms to stop funds being diverted from public services to those who ‘blame, claim and gain’ if things go wrong.” In a speech in Birmingham, Mr. Byers called for a national debate on claim payouts that have reached ?200 million a year for schools and ?477 million for claims against the National Health Service, enough to hire 8,000 teachers and 22,700 nurses, and have encouraged excessive caution in service provision, as with teachers’ reluctance to lead field trips (see Mar. 2). Among possible remedies: no-fault compensation, use of alternate dispute resolution, curbs on “no fee, no win” legal practice, and tighter scrutiny of misleading advertisements by lawyers. (Toby Helm, Daily Telegraph, Mar. 10). For many related posts, see our UK category.
“Blair ally attacks British ‘culture’ of compensation”
“Britain suffers from a ‘compensation culture’ that deprives schools and hospitals of nearly ?700 million a year that could be spent on extra teachers and nurses, a close ally of Tony Blair says today. Stephen Byers, the former Trade Secretary who advises the Prime Minister on policy, is calling for sweeping legal reforms to stop […]
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Ireland adopts scheduled damages
For some years it looked as if the major English-speaking countries would inevitably see their legal systems “Americanize” in the direction of ever-wider litigation, but the trend may now be reversing itself. Not only has Australia enacted significant …