Research reveals employees do not operate in compensation culture

Workers have modest expectations when making compensation claims for injuries sustained in the workplace because they are concerned about losing their job.

That is according to research from personal injury solicitors Hubbard Pegman & Whitney (HPW), which has undertaken a survey of employees that throws into dispute claims that the country has developed a “compensation culture”.

The research, which was undertaken by YouGov on behalf of the HPW, found that some 90 per cent of people did expect some form of compensation following an injury at work.

However, they under-estimate how much they might receive and HPW said “very few over-estimate”.

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Commenting on the research findings, Charlotte Pegman, managing partner of HPW, said:” Our research indicates to us that most people only want fair and reasonable compensation when they are injured at work.”

She concluded: “In fact, our experience is that British people are often too stoic.”

The Trades Union Congress reported recently that employers benefited from record levels of unpaid overtime in 2008.