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Greg Pitcher 

A local authority has set aside £100,000 in next year's budget for legal fees to defend itself against employment claims by teachers.

Liverpool City Council decided to create the fund after its costs from fighting employment tribunals soared.

The council currently has 12 outstanding tribunal claims against it from teachers. Last year, authorities across the UK shelled out £20m for employment and criminal claims from school workers.

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council told Personnel Today: "Complaints are becoming more complex and time-consuming.

"We spoke to head teachers and they believed that having a central pot was a good idea."


COMMENTS

 
Liverpool City Council fund to fight tribunal claims
While we are in an increasingly litigious society, I believe that if Liverpool City Council has 12 outstanding tribunal claims from teachers it should be spending time to find out why this is so.  I don't believe that, in most cases, employees will go to the lengths of making a claim unless they believe they have a genuine grievance arising from what they perceive to be ineffective management or unfair treatment. Or else they believe that the employer will settle a case "out of court" with a payment to the claimant whatever the merits of the claim.  If an employer takes this view, it may have short term benefits of avoiding extensive legal costs but, in the long term, can send a message to disgruntled employees that the employer is a soft touch and lead to potentially greater costs in payouts.  In this particular case, that certainly can't be in the interests of Liverpool's residents who, ultimately, foot the bill.

Ian Wilder, Director, Clovelly Consulting Limited
19 Oct 2007
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