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Government ploughs on with compensation cuts

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The TUC has condemned the reintroduction of proposals to cut compensation for workers who are the victims of crime through their work. Proposals to slash payments were introduced by the government earlier this yet and then withdrawn in September following cross-party opposition. They have now been hurriedly reintroduced in exactly the same form as before, despite a promise to reconsider the proposals and bring them back 'in a better form'. The changes, if implemented, will end payments for claims below £2,500 and significantly reduce payments for claims below £11,000. Payments for loss of future earnings, which currently reflect what a person would have been able to earn during his lifetime, will also be limited to an amount equivalent to statutory sick pay under the proposed scheme. Some groups such as victims of dog attacks, or train drivers affected by suicides on the tracks, will also lose out completely. TUC head of health and safety, Hugh Robertson said 'This is yet another attack on workers compensation from a government obsessed with shifting the blame for injuries caused though work on to the employee.' Karl Tonks, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers added 'It beggars belief that the Government has not amended the very proposals which attracted widespread criticism from Conservative and Labour MPs, as well as vulnerable victims of crime. The impression this gives is that the Government wants to push these unpopular cuts through, regardless of what the public or some other members of the Government think. It's important that victims of violent crime are given financial redress to help them get back to their feet, particularly if they are unable to return to work.'

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