I write to provide a different perspective on your excellent story regarding compensation paid to council staff (The Argus, May 24), based on information public bodies are now required to publish.

Many of these claims will have been due to the help provided by Unison for its members.

There is much talk of a “compensation culture” and I want to emphasise that cases are only taken where there is clear negligence – otherwise these would simply not be successful in court.

For balance, a few examples from outside councils may help.

In the past few months, one of our members, received a high five-figure sum – she had been run over in the daytime on a pedestrian crossing, causing a permanent disability.

Another had a four-figure sum – a restaurant opened its delivery hatch without warning and with no one stood by the hatch. She sustained severe cuts to her legs and arms, requiring hospital visits.

Yet another sustained a permanent back injury due to no lifting equipment being provided by her private sector employer, to move a patient – she will not work again.

The national press loves to pick out the few “silly” claims, as examples of this alleged “culture”.

My point, and The Argus is very fair in this respect, is that the vast majority, wherever they occur, have a real and immediate impact on ordinary people. The example in your report of tinnitus is a real and debilitating condition – ask anyone who suffers from it.

When preventable things go wrong, people have a right to redress (often financial), and, as importantly, an assurance it will not happen to someone else (health and safety – or “red tape” as this Government would term it).

Alex Knutsen, Unison