Fewer than one in 10 people injured receive a payout

An estimated 850,000 people suffer workplace injuries each year, but only 80,000 of them receive payouts.

People suffering hearing and breathing complaints caused by work were the most likely to receive compensation.

But workers suffering stress and repetitive strain injury were the least likely to be awarded payouts.

Overall, the average claim for compensation was �10,000, but half of this was usually swallowed up in legal fees, the TUC said.

Compensation frenzy

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said the idea that a workplace compensation culture existed in the UK was wide of the mark.

"Some employers and commentators would have us believe that the UK is caught up in a compensation culture frenzy where, at a whim, people who are ever so slightly injured at work get to walk away with huge payouts," Mr Barber said.

"The reality is very different for the hundreds of thousands of workers made ill or injured by their jobs each year."

Mr Barber accused employers of not taking health and safety seriously enough. He said the UK's state compensation system failed those most in need.

But the Federation of Small Businesses said employers took safety seriously.

It said workers suffering injuries had access to a tribunal system in order to secure compensation.