Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said the current situation was "rotten" and action was needed to increase transparency and reduce costs.
Critics say insurers are getting paid for referring details of people involved in accidents to personal injury lawyers without permission.
Insurers have promised to work with ministers to reform the system.
There were 11 cases, ranging from trips and slips, to a girl who hurt her arm while putting away a trampoline.
The largest payout was over £10,000 to a pupil who slipped and fell on some logs.
The information was published by Staffordshire County Council after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
Referrals, where a child is reported due to welfare concerns, have also gone up from 3,500 to 5,500, between 2009-11, and child protection plans have increased by 30% in two years, to 290.
The increase has been blamed on drug and alcohol misuse or parents with "personal difficulties".
The council has spent an extra £3.9m to pay for the increased workload.
The legal costs of care and placements account for a large part of the budget.
Constant observation
A major construction firm has been fined £160,000 after a labourer fell to his death while building Premier League side Everton FC's new training academy.
Karl Davis, who was married and lived in Wallasey, was working on the first floor of a building on the Finch Lane site in Halewood when a guardrail gave way and he fell out of an open window frame.
Kier North West, part of the Kier group which has an annual turnover of more than £2.4bn, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident on 27 February 2007
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) today received a formal Crown Censure from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after potentially exposing workers to deadly asbestos fibres.
Being a Crown body, MOD cannot be prosecuted as a private company would be in the criminal courts.
The Censure was received by a senior manager from Defence Estates on behalf of MOD, who attended a formal Crown Censure hearing at HSE's East Grinstead Office today (13 September 2010).
Fines totalling £30,000 have been issued following the death of a Salford worker, who was struck by the excavator bucket on a digger.
John Cain, 36, was working on a project to demolish the Albert Park Inn on Great Clowes Street in Salford on 22 November 2004 when he was hit by the bucket on a digger. He died from his injuries later that day.
A Croydon company has been fined after a young worker suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries when he fell through a roof-light after only weeks into his job.
Lewis Edwards, 17, from Sidcup, had only been at STP Solutions Ltd a few weeks when the incident happened and it was his first job since leaving school.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that his employers told him to go onto a warehouse roof and clean out the guttering at the Argent Centre, Pump Lane, in Hayes Middlesex on May 2009.
The UK's biggest food manufacturer has been fined £14,000 after a 65kg metal pillar fell on a maintenance engineer in Merseyside, crushing his skull.
Thomas Williams, from Prenton in Wirral, was working at Premier Foods Group Ltd's site at Manor Bakeries in Moreton on 24 July 2008 when a four-metre section of pillar fell on his head.
Premier Foods, which has an annual turnover of £2.6 billion and owns brands including Hovis, Mr Kipling and Bisto, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to ensure the safety of its employees.
Newcastle City Council has been fined after a five-year-old girl needed surgery when she was injured by an interactive exhibit at one of its museums.
The child was visiting the Discovery Museum in Newcastle with her family when she placed her hand in an opening of the "Floating on Air" exhibit on 17 August 2009.
The opening led down into the rotating blades of a fan which powered the air flow through the machine. The opening should have been protected by a guard which was missing and so the girl's hand came into contact with the rotating blades of the fan.
Union leaders have claimed that many workplace accidents go unreported, with an estimated 1.2 million people suffering from work-related illnesses.
The TUC said more than 20,000 people were killed prematurely by their work each year.
It wants a health and safety "tsar" appointed to help prevent deaths caused by issues such as occupational cancers, exposure to fumes and road accidents.
The government is currently reviewing health and safety laws.