LTB134/17 £84m Awarded by Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS):

No. 134/2017

3 March 2017

Our Ref: P8/17

£84m Awarded by Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS):

To: All Branches

Dear Colleagues,

A Government Report issued by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) States that more than £84 million in compensation has been awarded to sufferers, or the families of those who have died, as part of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS).

According to official Health and Safety Executive statistics, the Asbestos cancer caused the death of 2,515 people in Great Britain in 2014.

The DMPS scheme, which is for Mesothelioma victims who have been prevented from claiming compensation because they cannot trace a liable employer or an employers’ liability insurer, was introduced after a high profile campaign by Trade Unions, including the CWU and Asbestos Disease Victims’ Campaign Organisations.

Announcing the latest payout figures, the Government statement said It is absolutely right that the Government steps in to help people who cannot get the compensation they deserve from their former employers and the Government wants to ensure all who might benefit from the scheme are aware of it’.

The average lump sum payment made through the scheme in the six months between April and September 2016 was around £141,000, up from £135,000 in 2015/16. The scheme is funded by a levy on the Employers’ Liability Compulsory Insurance industry, set this year at £40.4 million.

No comparable scheme exists for victims of other occupational cancers or other Asbestos Related deaths. The HSE report that 2000 die a year from Asbestos related Lung Cancer and 500 from Asbestosis. These cases are excluded from the DMPS scheme.

Disappointment and frustration were just a few of the widespread reactions to the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS), which was introduced by the Government in July 2014.

Many Unions and Asbestos Victim Support Groups joined in with a number of MPs, Solicitors and Asbestosis Lawyers to broadly welcome the scheme designed to provide faster financial help to those with Mesothelioma while at the same time expressing concern over the exclusion of the many men and women suffering with other Asbestos-related diseases. All the organisations backed a call for the Government to extend the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments Scheme which as yet the Tory Government has refused.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer