A union member who suffered an injury when she sat on a chair that a colleague had lowered by a foot while she was briefly away from her desk has spoken out against government plans to change the small claims limit.

Mandy Davies was working in an administrative role for the Cwm Taf University Local Health Board when the accident happened. The accident caused her to suffer a soft-tissue injury to her cervical and lumbar spine, aggravating a pre-existing arthritic condition. She needed physiotherapy after the accident and had to take sick leave.

“I didn’t expect the chair to have been lowered – I had only left my desk for a few minutes,” she said. “I was coming to the end of my shift so I worked through the pain, but it just kept getting worse.”

The office’s policy was that, if a seat had to be adjusted by another member of staff while the employee was away from their desk, it should be returned to its original position and the employee told of the change. Mandy’s colleague initially claimed that she had only moved the seat a fraction to answer a phone call but it was later shown that this was not true.

The government has announced that they will be removing this support for workers with cases valued at less than £2,000, which could leave people injured at work like Mandy without access to free legal representation.

“The government must reconsider their plan to increase the small claims limit.”

Mandy Davies Thompsons Solicitors' accident at work client

She contacted personal injury specialists Thompsons Solicitors to make a claim.

Mandy continued: “I was fortunate enough to have the backing of Thompsons, who gave me the confidence to make a claim against my employer and supported me through the whole legal procedure, but if that support was taken away most working people wouldn’t be able to pay for legal services out of their own pocket – I know for a fact I couldn’t. People should be encouraged to come forward if they are injured through no fault of their own, not deterred.

“The government has aped the insurers exaggerated claims about a whiplash ‘crisis’ and then used it as a fig leaf to double the small claims limit for all other types of injury including work accidents. No one has suggested that any workplace claims are fraudulent yet the government has taken biased evidence in one area of personal injury and used it to attack all injury claims and increase the small claims limit well above inflation.

“The government must reconsider their plan to increase the small claims limit.”

Ian Bridgeman, of Thompsons Solicitors, added: “Without free legal support, Mandy may never have turned to Thompsons in her time of need. From nearly 100 years’ experience we know at Thompsons that without the threat of legal action, unscrupulous employers have no incentive to maintain health and safety policies because there will be no consequences when injuries – like Mandy’s – occur.”