Britain's compensation culture is crippling health and education, former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers said today.
Claims against schools have reached £200 million a year, which would pay for 8,000 teachers.
In the NHS, medical negligence payments have risen from £1 million in 1974 to £477 million - or 22,700 extra nurses.
Mr Byers said "something is badly wrong" when legal action so badly hits "good quality schools and a decent healthcare".
"Money is being taken away from saving lives and educating our children to pay for a compensation system in which the real beneficiaries are the lawyers and accident management companies."
Mr Byers has set his mind to a series of policy issues since quitting the Cabinet, admitting he had become a "distraction" from the Government's work.
No fault
Speaking at a conference in Birmingham, he proposed no fault compensation schemes for the health service and schools.
These could set financial limits to settlements or even introduce a "social contract" that would do away with cash compensation.
"Perhaps a new system avoiding the legal process but one which provides lifelong care and assistance when appropriate without fault needing to be proven, alongside an effective public complaints procedure and disciplinary action against staff if necessary," he will say.
Other suggestions include:
* Scrapping no-win no-fee deals where solicitors take up cases which previously would have been settled without going to law.
* Legal reform to provide arbitration, mediation and early intervention.
* A cap on the costs paid to lawyers, accident management companies and other relevant groups.
* More effective regulation of accident management groups.
* Insurance companies to be required to develop new procedures to resolve claims more quickly without going through the legal process.
* Greater control over advertisements which often make misleading claims and more effective action in such circumstances.
Consequences
Mr Byers added: "There has been little public debate about the growth in this blame, claim and gain culture. Yet the consequences for our society are dramatic.
"We see it with playground equipment being fenced off; hanging baskets being taken down as a health hazard; teachers being advised to no longer supervise school outings.
"But it also reflects how we see ourselves. A reluctance to take responsibility for our own actions with always someone to blame and never at fault ourselves.
"For the well-being of our society this is a state of mind that must change."
What do you think? Has the culture of compensation claims gone too far?
Comments
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'Reluctance to take responsibility for our own actions' What a load of pap.
The compensation Industry is not a NEW culture.
Its always been there, except that now the general public are more aware of their legal rights.
Mr Byers and his like should be placing greater efforts in supplying first class services, instead of thinking up COP OUT excuses.
When I personally intervened, and stopped a nurse giving an elderly patient, in the bed opposite my wife, with my wifes blood transfusion, which may have damaged, or killed her. We don't want excuses, we want proper first class care.
Responsibility lays with the provider, not receiver.
Compensation is absolutely right if someone has suffered because of mistake. In our NHS vast majority of patients are treated very well but mistakes are not rare and when doctors and nurse make mistakes, consequences can be dreadful. Patient may die or may live with complications like paralysis, blindness, loss of limb or many others.
Just offering compensation is not enough unless the NHS learns lessons from these mistakes. Until recently that culture was not there in our NHS. NHS must make sure that doctors, nurses and managers learn lessons from these mistakes and put things right. Those patients who have suffered because of mistakes should be compensated.
Unfortunately some patients do claim compensation even when the doctors have done every thing possible. That has to stop. In our country at present only 10% of those who have actually suffered due to negligence claim a compensation and on the other hand nearly 70% of those who bring claim against NHS, negligence is often not proven. Nearly 30% of what the NHS pays in compensation goes to lawyers and other experts rather than the patients.