Government blocks justice for mesothelioma victims

Government blocks justice for mesothelioma victims

Eight years ago the TUC proposed a no-fault fund of last resort for people who were injured or who developed a disease through work but where their employer had not got insurance, or the insurer could not be traced. The proposal was adopted by the all-party parliamentary group on occupational safety and health and finally by the Labour government in 2010. When the coalition came to power that year, it said it wanted time to consider the proposals and discuss the plans with the insurance industry. After three years they came up with a watered down proposal which would give limited compensation only to a small number of people. Rather than covering everyone with an occupational disease it was restricted to mesothelioma, just one asbestos cancer. In addition, compensation would be only 70 per cent of what they would receive if they could trace their insurer. This week the bill, which had been criticised by asbestos disease advocacy groups and unions, had its final stage in the Commons. The only concession was an increase in the amount of compensation from 70 per cent to 75 per cent of the full rate. According to TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, calls for more research, more compensation and for payments to be backdated to benefit those diagnosed after 2010 were also defeated “even though the government did not even bother to even try to justify their case for opposing them.” Safety minster Mike Penning said that the bill was “a deal we have struck to get this bill to where it is today with the insurance industry”.  Criticising the deal, Newcastle East MP Nick Brown said: “Compensation should be 100 per cent of what is due. Victims, within a few months, are going to be 100 per cent dead, so 100 per cent compensation does not seem unreasonable.” TUC’s Hugh Robertson said the bill will benefit about 300 mesothelioma sufferers a year “because of the work done by the victims’ support groups, their unions, the union lawyers and of course that small core of Labour MPs who have been relentlessly pursuing the case for this over the past seven or eight years.” He added this was “not the end of the line. Unions are going to continue fighting for justice for all those who are made ill or injured at work and that means 100 per cent compensation, for everyone.”

• TUC Stronger Unions blog.
• Northern Echo.
• Western Morning News.
• Huddersfield Examiner.