Lawyer Welcomes Scheme but Warns of Shortfall
Asbestos-related disease
01/10/2008
A leading industrial illness lawyer has welcomed a Government scheme that gives lump sum compensation payments to more mesothelioma sufferers, but warned that still not enough is being done to help those with the fatal asbestos-related disease.
From October 1st 2008, people who have developed mesothelioma after indirect exposure to asbestos – for example when breathed in while handling a family member's dust-covered work clothes – will be eligible for financial support.
The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 means those who have developed mesothelioma through 'social' asbestos exposure are now in line to receive payments – the system previously only helped those who were exposed while at work but whose employers were no longer in business.
Adrian Budgen, partner and industrial disease expert at Irwin Mitchell, welcomed the new scheme, which is expected to help around 600 people, who will receive on average around £20,000 in the first two years of the scheme's operation, depending on their age.
However, he said there was still much more that needed to be done: "This will go some way to helping people who were not previously covered by the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers’ Compensation) Act and shows that the Government is aware of the issues. However, still not enough is done by government agencies to help those with the disease.
"The fact remains that thousands of people in the UK are expected to develop mesothelioma in the coming years and yet we still have to fight for every scrap of compensation that we can get, to provide support and comfort for them in their final days.
"What is most sickening is that in a large number of cases, the disease was caused by employers exposing their staff to asbestos while fully aware of its dangers.
"People are horrified nowadays to hear that workers in other countries are exposed to potentially deadly working conditions – but it went on in the UK for decades in the last century and little was done about it. Now people are falling terminally ill as a result and, frankly, there is still comparatively little being done by government agencies to support them.
"Mesothelioma lies dormant for many years but once it takes hold is fast-acting and invariably fatal – it is imperative that the Government increases the support packages available to them."