More financial help for mesothelioma sufferers

More financial help is to be given to people suffering from the Asbestos related illness mesothelioma.

Payments from the 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme will increase by around 40 per cent this April, announced the Government today.

Currently sufferers receive a minimum payment of £8,197 from the scheme, which will now rise to £11,678.

The maximum payment will also rise from £52,772 to £75,176.

The payments will now match the same amount paid out under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979.

Those who develop the disease from asbestos exposure outside of the workplace will now receive the same payment as those exposed at work.

The 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme was introduced to help provide financial support to people who were not eligible for help from other compensation schemes.

In the first year, 630 people benefited from the scheme.

The new payment rates will apply to claims made where diagnosis of mesothelioma is given from 1 April 2010.

Department for Work and Pensions Minister Bill McKenzie said: “Mesothelioma devastates lives and causes great suffering to hundreds of individuals and their families. I am pleased to announce that from April everyone who suffers from this disease will receive the same payment wherever they were exposed to asbestos, providing a substantial increase for those who developed the disease outside the workplace.

“We recognise that the terrible effects mesothelioma can have on families who have to cope with the effect of the disease on their loved ones, witnessing their pain, suffering and, ultimately, their death. They will now receive an extra amount to help them through these extremely difficult times.”

Mesothelioma is a fatal cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen, and develops from contact made with asbestos. Once a sufferer is diagnosed, their life expectancy is then just nine months.

There is a gap between the exposure of asbestos to a person and the ultimate development of the mesothelioma cancer, anything from ten years later, with an average gap of 30-40 years.

In the past 30 years, the number of deaths in the UK has jumped dramatically, with an anticipated 30,000 people yet to die between 2006 and 2020.