Insurers to pay £300m to mesothelioma sufferers

The Queen has announced that the government will launch a Mesothelioma Bill to help sufferers obtain better and faster compensation.

The speech confirmed that part of the bill and associated civil justice reforms will launch a scheme to support mesothelioma claimants that cannot trace a solvent employer or insurer. This is expected to pay more than £300m to about 3,000 sufferers over the next 10 years. This will be paid for by insurers and be operational by July 2014, although people diagnosed with mesothelioma from 25 July 2012 will be able to claim.

The proposed legislation will also create a more simple and streamlined claims process, with set timescales for providing information and fixed legal costs. This should mean that where there is a traced employer or insurer, compensation is paid within three months, and within three to five months, where there is no traced employer or insurer. The Ministry of Justice will be consulting on this later this year.

Insurers also want to build an online portal for mesothelioma suffers to log claims, to ensure that all information is kept in one place.

ABI director general Otto Thoresen said: “Mesothelioma is a devastating disease that has a terrible impact on sufferers and their families. The insurance industry wants to do all it can to help sufferers and has worked with the government on this package of  measures that will deliver help to claimants much faster, including to those who would otherwise go uncompensated.”