The great news is that UNISON Cymru/Wales members and their families benefited from compensation of nearly 1.7 million pounds in 2006 as a result of successful personal injury claims brought by Thompsons Solicitors, UNISON’s lawyers.
The total damages won for members and their families was £1,699 449.
What was surprising though, was that this significant amount of compensation was recovered on fewer cases than the previous 12 months. So whilst it is great news that we are securing so much compensation, there may be other members, or their families, who are missing out on what they are entitled to.
A lot is written in the press about a so called compensation culture. But that is a myth. Personal injury claims in Wales are falling every year. We hope that genuinely injured people, including UNISON members, are not being put off claiming because of the nonsense that is being written about a claims culture.
We know from our statistics that per head of membership population, a smaller percentage of UNISON members pursue claims compared with the percentage of the overall general population that pursue claims. It is unlikely that UNISON members get injured less often, and so members are either not accessing the specialist advice they need, or they are chancing their case with a jack-of-all-trades lawyer or even an unregulated claims company.
UNISON members should remember that if someone else’s negligence causes them or their loved ones injury, and it is possible to prove that this negligence was the cause of that injury, then it is their right to claim damages.
UNISON’s legal service, provided by specialist personal injury lawyers Thompsons, is totally free to members injured at or away from work, and to friends and family members injured away from work, whether or not the claim is successful. Use it.
NB: FROM APRIL ISSUE OF BRANCH NEWSLETTER
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