Mesothelioma payment scheme

The House of Commons has issued a statement confirming that for anyone unfortunate enough to be diagnosed as suffering from Mesothelioma they are, as of 10 February 2015, entitled to receive 100% of the value of their claim if the insurers cannot be located. Prior to this, if the insurers could not be traced, those people suffering from mesothelioma could only recover 80% of the value of their claim.  

Dean Cruickshanks, Solicitor and Asbestos Litigation Specialist comments, “This is positive news for asbestos sufferers.  It has been a long battle with the Insurance industry who were holding the Government to ransom, but now mesothelioma sufferers under the Scheme will rightfully get 100% of the compensation they deserve.” 

Cases involving a diagnosis of Mesothelioma usually involve exposure to asbestos between 20 and 50 years previously and as a result by the time a diagnosis is made there is often no record of which insurers provided cover during the period of exposure.  

Until recently if the insurer, for the period of exposure, was not indentified and the company themselves no longer existed, which is so often the case, the person who was diagnosed with Mesothelioma would not be able to bring a claim. In 2014 the government put a scheme in place called the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme to ensure the insurance industry as a whole would have to cover the cost of these claims.  As they had previously taken the premiums from the employers it was agreed that they should be liable to compensate employees that had contracted Mesothelioma.

The change to the scheme is welcomed by Wolferstans and is a fair result for the many people who have been exposed to asbestos and subsequently gone on to develop an asbestos related illness. 

Wolferstans Solicitors are specialists in bringing forward claims for people that have previously been exposed to asbestos and have subsequently been diagnosed with a related condition such as Asbestosis, Pleural Thickening, Lung Cancer, Fibrosis or Mesothelioma.  

If you were previously exposed to asbestos in the course of your employment then contact us today for a no cost, no obligation consultation with our experts.