Millions paid out to injured teachers Teachers won millions of pounds in compensation last year after accidents, injuries, assaults and discrimination at school, new figures show. In one case, a teacher was awarded more than £222,000 when a pupil hit her in the head with a bus door, while another was handed almost £175,000 after being punched by the parent of a pupil. Others were given settlements of thousands of pounds after tripping or slipping at school. The largest out-of-court personal injury settlement was for a teacher in the north west who slipped on mud, which was the result of building work, and hurt her back. The woman was awarded £158,000. The compensation figures were published as the NUT and NASUWT teaching unions meet for their annual conferences. The NASUWT alone secured £12.6 million last year, almost a 20 per cent increase on the 2010 figure of £10.5 million. NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "Employers who deliberately flout the law are not only causing distress, ill-health and job loss, they are costing taxpayers millions of pounds. Compensation is important but it is cold comfort when they have lost their job, or their mental or physical health is irreparably damaged.