Unite ensures asbestos victims’ claims honoured by government
13th July 2009
Unite’s intervention sees the government put in to place
legislation today (Monday) that will benefit hundreds of sufferers
of the fatal asbestos cancer, mesothelioma, to the tune of
thousands of pounds in compensation. The people affected were
exposed to asbestos by Turner & Newall (T&N) the UK’s
largest asbestos company which went into administration in
2001.
The former secretary of state, John Hutton, exempted T&N’s
claims from compensation recovery provisions of the Social Security
(Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997. This was because Federal Mogul's
(T&N’s new owners) Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan resulted in
T&N asbestos claimants receiving only a small fraction of their
entitlement to compensation, in many cases as little as 17 per
cent. This exemption came in to force in 2006.
At that time it was also understood that T&N claimants were
entitled to the state payment under the Pneumoconiosis 1979 Act. It
was further understood that the sum of both payments fell well
short of the total amount claimants should have received. The
government gave a clear intention not to penalise T&N claimants
twice.
Unite the union with Terry Rooney MP acted swiftly to bring to
the attention of the government a consequence of the Child
Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 and related legislation
which ran contrary to an agreement the union had brokered in 2006
to exempt T&N victims from the requirement to repay DWP
benefits from their compensation. Due to the uniqueness of the
T&N asbestos victims’ position, special measures were needed to
ensure that they were not unfairly penalised under the new
legislation. The decision today reinstates the exemption for
T&N claims from the government’s Compensation Recovery
Unit.
Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary, said: “We are
delighted that the government has put this right. Had it not been
for Unite’s prompt intervention this problem would have remained
unchecked to the disadvantage of many mesothelioma sufferers and
their families. This decision will benefit our members and
countless other T&N asbestos victims who have suffered serious
pain and loss of life, and it will aid their families who have to
care for them.
“The union stepped in because it was wrong that workers
condemned to an agonising death and their grieving loved ones were
facing their compensation being so drastically cut. It was an
important point of principle which Unite was committed to getting
resolved.
“The new legislation was intended to benefit people with
mesothelioma but it also resulted in compensation payments to
victims from the T&N Trust being drastically reduced or
extinguished altogether. The determined action taken by Unite was
instrumental in raising this issue at the highest possible level
and achieving a fair and just political solution.”
ENDS
For more information contact Brian Gallagher on 07957 995947 or
John O’Regan, Unite political officer, on 020 7420 8950 or Ashraf
Choudhury in the Unite Press Office on 020 7420 8914 or 07980
224761.
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