Six Gloucestershire councils paid more than £475,000 in personal injury compensation between 2022/23 and 2024/25, according to figures gathered through freedom of information requests by Legal Expert.
Gloucestershire County Council and South Gloucestershire Council accounted for about £463,000 of that. The county council paid £236,112.94 across 267 claims. Those figures cover Gloucestershire Highways only. South Gloucestershire Council paid £227,107 across 129 claims.
The other councils that answered paid far less. Gloucester City Council recorded 66 claims and spent £10,256. Cheltenham Borough Council dealt with eight claims. Cotswold District Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council each recorded two claims, and Tewkesbury paid £2,000. Forest of Dean District Council and Stroud District Council did not respond, so they are not in the total.
Across the councils that answered, 474 claims were lodged in the three years. Where councils split the figures by who claimed, 459 came from the public and 15 from council staff. South Gloucestershire Council reported 13 employee claims and Gloucester City Council reported two. The other councils that gave a split reported none from staff.
Claims of this kind are usually brought when someone is hurt, or loses money, because a council did not keep a public space or service reasonably safe. That duty covers roads, pavements, parks, council housing and public buildings.
Legal Expert solicitor Patrick Mallon said the figures showed why councils need to meet that duty to staff and residents. “We’ve seen far too many avoidable accidents happen over the years. Even simple slip, trip and falls have the potential to turn someone’s life upside down.”
He said people look to councils to keep neighbourhoods safe, and that publishing the numbers was meant to push for more of that work.