One of our clients (aged 33) was employed by Oxfordshire County Council as a Care Assistant in their Children’s Team. From about 2009 onwards, she was required to provide care to a 17-year-old male who had a number of learning difficulties. From about February 2010, she raised concerns about his aggressive behaviour with her Line Manager and requested restraint training. She was told that restraint training was not given to care assistants.
During June 2010, she and a colleague took this young man out and, whilst attempting to get him to leave her car, he punched her in the chest and she sustained a number of soft tissue injuries, including an injury to her right shoulder. This resulted in her taking time off work (fortunately she was paid her salary in full) and she then had to find another job doing lighter duties.
It was our case that this incident could have been avoided if her employer had acted on her earlier request for restraint training. A letter of claim was submitted to her employer whose insurers vigoursly denied liability. They argued that it was not foreseeable that this young man would be violent and she would be injured by his actions. Proceedings therefore had to be issued at Oxford County Court and, once the insurers had appointed solicitors, the parties were able to reach a settlement of our client’s claim.
S. J. Edney solicitors obtained compensation of £10,000 for this client in 2013