Council pays out more than £350,000 in compensation to injured pupils and school staff

A council has paid out more than £350,000 for incidents in its schools and on school trips. The money, paid to pupils and staff involved in successful accident claims, does not include legal fees while are likely to have run up a further large bill.

Cardiff Council said it could not give details of accidents which resulted in the pay outs. But for the pupils’ claims they involved seven incidents which were described as “falls”.

The compensation paid to pupils was made between May 2021 to the end of May this year and for teachers between May 2019 to the end of May this year. At times during this period schools were still affected by closures, lockdowns and cancelled school trips during the pandemic. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here

Read more: Man claims he's still suffering 16 months after horror kebab shop infection

Read next: I've got £20,000 of debt on a credit card. This is how it got so bad and what I'm doing about it

The cost of the compensation pay outs were provided in response to Freedom of Information requests. Cardiff Council said between January 1, 2021 and May 31, 2024 it paid a total £91,002.75 in compensation (excluding legal fees) to pupils for accidents in schools or on school trips stating the cause and number of claims as “Fall 7”.

Between March 31, 2019 and May 2024 the total compensation paid to school staff (not including legal fees) was £261,943.10 for accidents at school or on school trips. “With regards to the individual claims and costs This information is exemptfrom disclosure as doing so could identify an individual,” the council’s FOI unit said.