Government to 'speed up' compensation claims

12:17pm Monday 5th June 2006

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BIRKENHEAD MP Frank Field has welcomed the news that the Government will work in partnership with insurers to speed up compensation claims for sufferers of asbestosis-related cancer.

The MP said the announcement by work and pensions minister John Hutton, that the DWP would be working with the Association of British Insurers, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Department of Constitutional Affairs to ensure faster compensation for mesothelioma sufferers and their families was not before time'.

"Mesothelioma is a particularly unpleasant disease and the time between diagnosis and death is often tragically short."

John Hutton

Mr Field believes the partnership will be good news for hundreds of people in Wirral who worked locally in shipbuilding, power stations and at the docks.

He said: "I have been pressing for more action on this for some time. Hopefully it will make a major difference to people hoping to claim compensation and sadly there will be a lot of people from Wirral who will benefit."

The DWP will be working with insurers to urgently identify ways to speed up the settlement of claims in a bid to improve the system.

The department aims to ensure that wherever possible sufferers of mesothelioma can receive compensation while they themselves can still benefit from it, at the same time knowing that their families will be secure in the future.

The move could help up to 2000 individuals a year who currently die from mesothelioma, the most common work-related death.

The number of deaths is expected to rise to 2500 when it peaks in 2015.

Mr Hutton said: "Mesothelioma is a particularly unpleasant disease and the time between diagnosis and death is often tragically short.

"No amount of money will ever compensate individuals and families for the suffering and loss caused by mesothelioma, but it is doubly important that the process for claiming compensation does not add to the distress experienced by individuals and their families."