Foot In Their Mouth? (Compensation culture)

Member Name: leahslad

Product:	Compensation culture
Date:	07/08/01 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compensates those who need it

Disadvantages: Its being abused by many who simply want a quick buck, People are having to foot the bill, either in insurance premiums or in taxes

With the recent foot and mouth compensations estimated to have already cost the UK tax payer in excess of £1 billion, is it time we curbed the compensation culture?

There has been a trend in current law which has worried many and benefitted but a few. This is the new wave of compensation claims. With companies like Claims Direct offering no win no fee lawyers for any claims, there has been a massive increase in claims put through the courts. You can now claim against the council if you fall on a pavement, you can claim against work if you cut your finger and you can claim if your farm has been affected by foot and mouth.

This seemed like a good way to compensate those who had been unfairly hurt or injured at first, but the cost it is now putting to society is beginning to pinch our pockets. Car insurance premiums have risen almost 50% in 2 years, taxes have been reshuffled to pay for compensation claims leading to over £3million last year (small claims only in this figure). This is all annoying but we get what we pay for, if you are injured or hurt in an incident that wasnt your fault then you want to be compensated fairly. So fair enough.

I do however have a problem with the recent compensation given to some farmers. Please dont think I have anything against farmers, many of my best friends are farmers or live on farms with their parents so I am not predjudice against them. I do however feel that recent pay awards given to them by the British government are outlandish. Last year the total export value of farmed livestock was £660m and yet already the bill for compensation given to farmers has exceeded £1bn and still rising. Is this fair?

The reason I find this figure even more disturbing is that we have already paid these farmers massive amounts in subsidies anyway. The much publicised over subsidisation of our agriculture industries means the tax payer has had to pay twice over for farmers who are now sitting ona pret
ty penny.

Its also being unfairly distributed in my opinion. Larger farmers who have lost more animals on more land are being over compensated while some smaller farms are not recieving enough. Some farmers in Yorkshire are reported to have been given £700,000. Given that their usual income in a year is little over £500,000 how can this be justified? The man in question was interviewed and pointed out that he owns £3m worth of land and stock. So? If you make £500,000 from your livestock in a year then that should be how much you recieve in compensation, no more and no less. You could argue that inflation should be taken into account, but how can you justify an extra £250,000 of taxpayers money?

This isnt an isolated over the top case either, over 60 farmers have recieved more than 50% above their income last year. So what is the reason for these claims being so high?

For the answer to that one we have to look back at the European courts. Yes, Europe has interferred once again and told us what to award our farmers. But interestingly, Europe has now taken a step back and pointed out that it only recommended the figures, not enforce them. Now they want them lowered as all the other member countries realised they would have ot compensate their farmers in the same amount should they suffer similar problems. So, who's at fault now?

There is no doubt that the compensation culture has gone crazy in this country and that it is squeezing us all out of our hard earned money, but when the government caves in so easily to over funded farmers who are then given almost 50% more than their normal yearly income as compensation on top of subsidies is absurd. Even if you take into account the heartache of the recent troubles aswell as any extra work they had to do to contain the disease, you would still be very hard pressed to get such high figures. Still, it seems to be the way these days.

To stop it in future we need t
o change the laws and the way society percieves things. Right now everyone seems to think society owes them something, but it doesnt work that way. We must all give to society and while I can understand it when someone is so badly injured that they cannot move their legs etc..., is there really a need for someone who has a small cut on their finger to take their employer to court? It's uncalled for, unecessary but sadly happening. Lets put a stop to it and all change for the better.

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