Victims' group plea over action to speed up asbestos pay-outs

A SUPPORT group in Derbyshire for victims of asbestos has expressed concern over plans by the Government to exclude it in work to speed up compensation payments.

Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team represents mesothelioma victims and their families seeking compensation.

Earlier this year the previous government announced moves to speed up the process.

Jack Straw, who was Justice Secretary at the time, promised to establish a working group to speed up payments to victims of mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer caused by inhaling asbestos.

Calls have been made to improve the process as many victims die before compensation payments are made.

Mr Straw said the working group would comprise "claimant solicitors, trade unions, insurers, the judiciary and civil servants to examine litigation practices".

But in a parliamentary answer, in reply to a question by Stephen Hepburn MP, published on the last day of Parliament before the summer recess, support groups, such as DAS, may be excluded from the process.

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said officials were considering options to speed up and improve the compensation claims process for mesothelioma and would involve "representatives of claimant solicitors, insurers and the judiciary".

Joanne Carlin, of DAS, said: "We are concerned that support groups have not been mentioned. We feel it is very important that we are involved in this process.

"Since the change of government, a lot of things have been left up in the air and there a lot of new MPs in Parliament.

"We are asking the families we work with to contact these new MPs to get it on their agenda."

The omission of unions has also angered the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, which represents 125,000 people employed in the construction industry throughout the UK and Ireland.

General secretary Alan Ritchie said: "To exclude the unions from this process is cynical and deliberate.

"It is designed to ensure that the process will not be speeded up. Unions are not interested in protecting profits or quibbling over points of law.

"We want to ensure that mesothelioma victims receive compensation as soon as possible, so that in their dying days they know their family will be provided for after they die."

Father-of-two Steve Ward, of Repton, died of mesothelioma in April, at the age of 49, ten months after being diagnosed.

He claimed that he became exposed to it while working a small garage between 1982 and 1985.

His widow, Sally, is calling for a fund to be created for people like her husband who have been unable to claim compensation.

She said: "Support groups such as Derbyshire Asbestos Support should be involved in the Government's consultation process because they deal very closely with the families."