Employers are likely to see a hike in their employer’s liability insurance as a new scheme has come into force this week which enables the NHS to reclaim the costs of treating workplace injuries.

The Injury Costs Recovery (ICR) scheme means that the NHS is able to recover costs from insurance companies for treating patients in all cases – including workplace injuries – where personal injury compensation is paid.

Health minister Andy Burnham said ICR would see more than £150 million a year being recovered by the NHS. ICR follows on from a scheme to recover the costs of treating people injured in road traffic accidents (RTA), which recovers around £115 million a year.

Mr Burnham said: “Although this scheme will undeniably raise useful additional sums of money for hospitals it is not simply about raising more cash. It is based on the legal rights of the NHS and the responsibilities of those to blame. We hope it will act as an additional impetus to improving health and safety.

“This policy will encourage employers to take steps to prevent employees being injured and when implemented should increase the total recouped each year to around £300 million for the NHS. The scheme will not introduce any more extra regulations for businesses and will be based on the current RTA scheme.

“It is unacceptable that taxpayers have to pay for the medical treatment of someone injured at work simply because employers fail to take adequate steps to protect their workforce. Individual hospitals will now be able to recover the costs and decide where they want to reinvest that money to improve services they want.”