Disabled girl sues Oxfordshire County Council for £4m over compensation delay

Oxfordshire County Council is being sued for more than £4m by a disabled girl who claims that the local authority failed to secure compensation promptly on her behalf, the BBC has reported.

The 17-year-old needs 24-hour care after being shaken by her father in 1994 when she was just one.

According to the report, the county council took until 1996 to apply for compensation and this reduced the girl’s payout from a predicted £3.2m to £500,000.

The girl’s barrister, Frank Burton QC, told the High Court that the council had assumed “parental responsibility” and should have applied promptly to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

The delay in the application, it was suggested, meant it was dealt with by the board’s less generous successor, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. The girl is claiming for the difference in payment plus interest.

The council suggested that submitting the compensations forms was not its responsibility, the BBC said. Oxfordshire also argued that it would not be “fair, just and reasonable” to make the authority liable.