16 July 2009

COMPENSATION GUIDELINES COULD SAVE MILLIONS

Revised guidelines are being issued to local authorities faced with spiralling compensation claims from road users and pedestrians. 

The UK Roads Board and ICE report Highway Risk and Liability Claims, shows that claims have risen by 88% over the last ten years and sets out practical guidance on how to control costs by avoiding the incidents that lead to claims and by better managing the process itself where claims do arise.

Claims for compensation from damage caused by potholes alone on the roads of England and Wales amounted to £35m last year. Add personal injury claims and, in total, local authorities spend £100-500 million a year on highway claims.  

The guidelines include advice on safe and durable highway design, regular safety checks and maintenance programmes, plus training staff to deal with claims and legal advice on how best to minimise costs. Leicestershire County Council is amongst authorities that have already adopted the best practice guidance. It has high repudiation rates with over 80% of claims successfully resisted, and has paid out very low levels of compensation.

The group tasked with producing the guidelines brought together the UK Roads Board, CSS, and the Institution of Civil Engineers Municipal Expert Panel with additional representatives from professions with an interest in highway liability claims.

Chair of the UK Roads Board is CSS engineering committee chair, Matthew Lugg. “The new guidelines are the first for 11 years and provide the very latest advice,” he said. “Authorities now have access to recent legal cases, web links, changes in legislation, details of highway inspector training schemes and a significant update on design and innovation.

“It is essential that local authorities are aware of the importance of following the “Well

Maintained Highways” approach – if maintenance is cut back to below code standards then

liability cases will be harder to defend, and funding set aside for highway maintenance will be lost to expenditure on lawyers and compensation.”

ends

Media contact  

Michael Pullan, Daybreak Communications office 0845 644 3845; michael.pullan@daybreakcomm.co.uk 

Notes to Editors:

• CSS represents local authority chief officers who manage some of the most pressing issues facing the UK today. Membership is drawn from all four corners of the United Kingdom with members responsible for three-quarters of the road network, two thirds of the land area and just under half of the population of England and Wales. Operating at the strategic tier of local government, they are closely involved in crucial transport, waste management, environment, planning, energy and economic development issues.
• Matthew Lugg is Chair of the CSS Engineering Committee. The committee provides technical advice and expertise to the Roads Liaison Group and its four associated boards.  The chair of the committee is a member of the Roads Liaison Group and the committee also provides the Chairs for the Roads, Bridges and Lighting Boards.