Speeches

Alan Meale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Meale on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many posthumous claims for compensation under the (a) Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 and (b) Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme 1974 were submitted in each of the last 30 years.

Jesse Norman

With regards to the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers Compensation) Act 1979, the Department for Work and Pensions have advised that the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

For the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme 1974 (CWPS) the figures for posthumous claims received and paid, and the reasons for the difference between the two are shown in the table below:

Year

Deceased Claims Received

Dec’d Claims Paid

Denials & Work In Progress (WIP)

Duplicate Claim Denial

Failed Eligibility Denial

Nil Offer*

Work In Progress/Withdrawn/ Other Denial

2011

41

17

5

15

3

1

2012

104

65

20

6

3

10

2013

160

103

18

13

14

12

2014

153

96

19

13

18

7

2015

169

101

20

20

24

4

2016

70

33

6

7

7

17

* Nil Offer – a claim under the 1979 Act resulted in a higher award than would have been payable under the CWPS

N.B. Figures only available from July 2011 onwards when current claims handler took on the contract.