Compensation and benefits for mesothelioma

Most people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma can get financial help. There are 2 main ways of getting this help:

• benefits paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• compensation for you or your spouse due to asbestos exposure.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you should consider these types of financial help.

Many people think that benefits paid by the government are means tested. This means the amount of savings and income you have decides whether you can get them. It is important to remember that although some benefits are means tested, many are not. A benefits adviser or your solicitor will be able to tell you more about which benefits you can claim.

You may be able to get more information by talking with one of our money advisers through the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00. Available Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Local asbestos support groups may also offer advice and information about benefits. You can get information about support groups from Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum UK or Mesothelioma UK.

If you are employed but unable to work because of illness or disability, you may be able to get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Your employer will pay SSP for up to 28 weeks of sickness. Before SSP ends, find out if you can get a benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

ESA provides support to people under State Pension age who are unable to work. You can still get it if you are able to do some work (permitted work). Get advice before working and claiming ESA.

Disability benefits are for people who have difficulty moving around or looking after themselves. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is for people aged 16 to State Pension age. If you live in Scotland, PIP has been replaced by the Adult Disability Payment (ADP).

Attendance Allowance (AA) is a benefit for people who are at or above State Pension age. If you live in Scotland, you may get the Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) instead of AA.

There are special rules for people who are terminally ill and applying for PIP or AA. If you are terminally ill, you can apply for some benefits using a fast-track process called special rules. You can apply if your doctor thinks you are likely to have less than 12 months to live. Your claim will be dealt with quickly and you will get the benefit you applied for at the highest rate. It does not matter if you live longer than 12 months. If you live in Scotland, there is no set timeframe for how long are expected to live to be classed as terminally ill.

You can claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) if a job, training scheme or training course caused you to have 1 of the following:

• a disease, including cancer
• an accident.

This is an important benefit for people with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related illnesses.

You may get this benefit if the mesothelioma could have been caused by exposure to asbestos dust at work. You do not need to have worked with asbestos to get this benefit. You only need to have been exposed to asbestos dust while working for an employer.

This benefit also applies if you are now retired or worked in other countries for a UK company.

If you were self-employed when you were exposed to asbestos, you cannot usually claim for IIDB. There may be some rare cases where it may be possible, for example if you are an agency worker. But this will depend on your contract when you were self-employed. You can speak to your solicitor for advice about this.

Before making a claim for IIDB, you should always get advice from a specialist solicitor. It is very important that the information on the benefit application form is filled in correctly. Incorrect information may affect your claim for IIDB, or other compensation claims.

You will need to give information about where and how you were exposed to asbestos. A specialist solicitor can often help you investigate how you may have been exposed.

IIDB can be paid into your bank account every week, every 4 weeks or every 13 weeks.

People with mesothelioma are entitled to the maximum IIDB rate. If you are given this benefit, you may also be entitled to other benefits. If you are awarded IIBD because of mesothelioma, you will also be considered for Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA). CAA overlaps with other disability benefits, but the application process can be slow. This is because CAA has no fast-track system for people with a terminal illness.

You can get more information about these benefits from a welfare rights adviser  or specialist solicitor.

You can also call 0808 808 00 00, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, to speak to a Macmillan money adviser about these types of benefits.

This scheme provides payments for people who were diagnosed with mesothelioma on or after 25 July 2012. The scheme is only used when someone with mesothelioma has not been able to claim compensation. This may be because:

• their employer is no longer trading
• there is no insurance policy in place to cover the claim.

These must be the only reasons why they cannot successfully make a claim.

This scheme is only for people who were exposed to asbestos at work and have a strong legal claim against their employer.

The scheme can also pay out to eligible relatives or dependants of a person who has died from mesothelioma.

You can still claim under this scheme even if you have already claimed under the 2008 scheme, or the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 (PWCA). If you already have a payment from 1 of these schemes, the amount will be taken away from any DMPS payment you get.

Even if you have not been successful in claiming under other schemes, you may still be eligible for the DMPS scheme.

It is important to get advice from a specialist solicitor before making this type of claim. To get compensation from a former employer (or their insurer), the claim must be fully investigated first. If this has not been done, the claim will be rejected. The information given to support the claim may affect a later claim against the former employer or their insurer.

For more information about the 2008 scheme and the DMPS, visit GOV.UK

Anyone diagnosed with mesothelioma who has worked somewhere where they were exposed to asbestos in the past may be able to claim compensation from their employer. This includes people working in the armed forces who have been exposed to asbestos after 1987.

If you were not exposed to asbestos at work, you may also be able to claim. For example, if you are a spouse who was exposed to asbestos after handling work clothes contaminated with asbestos. Or if you regularly visited an area containing asbestos and you were exposed to asbestos dust.

Compensation claims require specialist legal knowledge and must be made through an experienced, specialist solicitor.

For a compensation claim to be successful, you have to show that your exposure happened because your employer at the time (or another person or organisation responsible) was:

• careless (negligent) in not keeping up the standards required by law
• not following specific safety regulations.

For example, this might be if you were exposed to asbestos when your employer knew, or should have known, about the risks to you - even if you were unaware of them.

If a former employer has gone out of business, it may be possible to claim against the employer’s insurers. If they cannot be found, it may be possible to make a claim under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme. Find more information in the section on the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.

Court proceedings for a claim must be started within 3 years of the date you were first diagnosed with an injury or illness due to asbestos. This means 3 years from the date of diagnosis of an asbestos-related illness, not 3 years since your exposure to the asbestos.

Family members of people who died from mesothelioma within 3 years of being diagnosed may still be able to make a claim. The 3-year period to make the claim begins from the date they died.

Sometimes this time limit can be extended. You can ask for advice from a specialist solicitor even if you think it may be too late to make a claim.

Family members of people who have died from mesothelioma may be able to claim compensation for:

• their relative’s pain and suffering
• some financial losses that occurred because of the illness.

This may not be possible if the person who died from mesothelioma had already made a claim which had been settled.

It is important to get legal advice from a specialist solicitor about how to make a claim.