The
recently enacted Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act contains a number of
disturbing provisions, including the frankly bonkers proposals in relation to
share incentives for employees who are prepared to sign away their employment
rights.
But
hidden away in there, and most disturbing of all perhaps, was Clause 61, a last
minute amendment that snuck into the Bill under the auspices of the
Government’s clamp down on regulation red tape and compensation and the
so-called compensation culture.
It
is significant to note that:
- Clause 61 was never subject to any form of public consultation; and
- It was introduced to the Bill after the Bill had been through its Committee stage in the House of Commons (in effect, it was hardly scrutinised at all).
What was the effect of
Clause 61?
In terms, it rolled back the
statutory Health and Safety framework for civil claims so that now in 2013 an
employee injured at work is in essentially the same boat in which he or she
would have found themselves in 1897.
That’s right, 1897.
116 years of progress in
Health and Safety has been abolished in an eye blink.
My colleagues who support
workers who make claims in respect of work related injuries always say this:
our clients have never, ever expressed as great an interest in compensation as
they have wished to be free from injury or disease.
And the strides made in the
last 20 years in improving safety at work have been enormous. They have been driven, by and large, by
employers who have improved their standards of care at work, in response to
claims brought by injured victims – since for many employers the finest
incentive to improve good practice at work is a positive impact on the bottom
line (i.e. a reduction in insurance premiums relating to workplace claims).
The details of the change in
the law are dry. In its broadest sense,
it might be said that it will now be substantially more difficult for injured
employees to recover compensation for those injuries.
Insurance Companies will
save money.
But the NHS will not. Historically we have recovered rehabilitation
costs from Insurers; now those costs will be distributed back to the
State.
And isn’t the point of
insurance after all to try to spread amongst us all the impact of one
devastating event upon an individual?
The Government concedes that
up to 70,000 claims a year might be adversely affected by their changes to the
law.
We were not asked about
it. There is no evidence base for the
changes that have been made. Yet more
(see our previous Employment Law Blogs) false claims of “perception of over regulation” are spouted by the coalition.
It’s about time we started
to legislate to deal with real problems, rather than “perceptions”.
Until we do, more people
will suffer without redress, Health & Safety standards will slip, families
will be devastated by death and injury – and eventually (since I think
sometimes these things go in cycles) someone will have to face front and say
that Health & Safety laws are there for a purpose.
By then those now in power
may be enjoying lucrative consultancy contracts in the Lords. I wonder who will apologise to the injured
and the families of the dead then.
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