Freedom of Information Request: Compensation Payouts

Dear Ms Watkins,

Freedom of Information Request: Compensation Payouts

I refer to your request for information received by Reading Borough Council on 4thOctober 2013. You have specifically requested the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

“A list of all compensation payments made by the council since April 1, 2010. For each payment please provide the date and what incident the compensation relates to. Please include all incidents that could legitimately be classed as 'compensation', such as workplace injuries, complaints from residents over things such as potholes, money to drop complaints etc.”

The Council has now completed its search for the requested information. The information provided has not been broken down by date and incident as requested. This is for two reasons. The first is that the information you have requested is not held centrally by the Council, and the work involved in researching this level of detail across all of the Council’s services was calculated to take more than 18 hours of officer time, which is the time limit set by Regulations issued under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act (exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit). In addition, given that the majority of compensation payments will have been made to individual claimants, providing details of individual claims could lead to a risk of individuals being identified as the data could be linked to events which are public knowledge, which would be a breach of data principle 6 of the Data Protection Act 1998;additionally, the amount of ‘compensation’ paid to an individual is their personal data. Therefore the information you have requested on individual payments is being withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act relating to personal information and, in this instance, personal information belonging to someone other than yourself.

However, under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, it is the duty of public authorities to provide advice and assistance in response to requests for information. Therefore I set out below information relating to total compensation payments made per year which includes a breakdown by insurance payments, complaints payments, ombudsman payments and payments made to ex-employees.

Information relating to insurance payments is attached at appendix 1. These figures relate to settlements made in the last three years, however, individual claims go back as far as the early 1970s; the figures are inclusive of legal fees. The information provided relates to claims made in respect of employers’ liability claims, motor vehicle and public liability.

The figures provided in Appendix 1 should also be taken in the context that Reading Borough Council as a local authority provides a substantially higher percentage of services 'in-house' than many other local Councils. That has traditionally been the case and remains so today. Liability risks are higher for Councils who provide in-house services than for Councils who contract services out. Local examples of services provided in-house include housing, refuse collection and grounds maintenance, among others.

The figures for Reading include legal costs. If you are planning to make a comparison with other local authorities in the area, we suggest you ensure that any other figures you obtain are on the same basis.

Payments made in relation to the complaints process are as follows:

In 2012/13, the Council made six compensation payments as directed by the Ombudsman, totalling £1,270.00, by way of local settlement to complaints. The breakdown by service is as follows.

Adult Social Care£2001 payment

Education and Children’s Services£9033 payments

Transport£671 payment (goodwill – no

fault by the Council)

Housing£1001 payment

We do not hold comparable figures for the years 2010/11 or 2011/12. The reason being that since 2011, the Ombudsman no longer included details of compensation payments in the annual letter he sent to each authority.

With regards to compensation paid out to ex-employees the figures are as follows: 2011/12 - £5,000; 2012/13 - £15,000. Unfortunately I have been unable to locate the figure for 2010/11 and must therefore conclude that this information is not held.

Please note that your request may itself be the subject of a FOI request and will be disclosed in that event.

If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act thenyou may ask for an internal review under the Council’s complaints procedure. Please make a request in writing to MrCBrooks, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, at Reading Borough Council. If you request such a review and are not content with its outcome, then you have a right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Chris Brooks

HEAD OF LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES

Appendix 1

Key to Abbreviations:

EL: Employers Liability MV: Motor Vehicle PL: Public Liability

www.reading.gov.uk SMS text service  81722DX 40124 Reading (Castle Street)