The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
17
WQ.166/2018
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY C.S. ALVES OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2018
Question
Will the Minister consider the introduction of a Jersey equivalent to the U.K.'s 2008 Diffuse mesothelioma payments scheme' and, if so, can she estimate what the annual cost of introducing such a scheme in the Island would be?
Answer
As I have previously committed, I will consider the provision of an industrial diseases compensation scheme as part of the Social Security Review.
The U.K.'s 2008 Diffuse mesothelioma payments scheme' was introduced to plug gaps in the 1979 Workers' Compensation scheme.
The 1979 scheme applies to employed earners and provides for a lump sum payment to a person with any of five dust-related diseases, or a dependant of a person with the disease(s), who has died and cannot claim civil damages from their employer through the courts, for example because the employer has gone out of business.
The 2008 scheme provides compensation to people with diffuse mesothelioma only (diagnosed before 25 July 2012), or their dependants, who are not eligible for payment under the 1979 scheme, for example because they are self- employed, have contracted their disease as a result of environmental exposure or through a relative who worked with asbestos and came home with it on their clothes. As the scheme covers the general public its scope is restricted to the most serious asbestos related disease.
If a scheme with lump-sum pay-outs similar to the U.K.'s 2008 Diffuse mesothelioma payments were to be introduced in Jersey, the cost would depend on the scale of lump-sum payments available to claimants and whether there were any time-limits on applying (for either the claimants or their relatives). A Jersey scheme would be likely to include employees (as under the UK 1979 scheme) as well as other individuals, whose exposure to asbestos was not associated with employment (as under the 2008 scheme).
The initial cost would depend on the date from which claims would be accepted. Annual on-going costs could be in the region of £150,000 - £200,000 per annum.
The Social Security Review will consider an industrial diseases compensation scheme and any recommendation for a benefit would then be funded by Social Security contributions. Implementing a scheme outside of the Social Security Scheme would require additional tax-funded monies.