Delay over asbestos payout decision
A new delay over a Government decision on whether to award compensation to people with asbestos-related illnesses has sent out "mixed messages" to thousands of sufferers, legal experts have claimed.
Further consideration is to be given to the issue of compensation for people diagnosed with pleural plaques before a final decision after the summer recess, justice secretary Jack Straw told the Commons.
Unions and campaigners are pressing for the reversal of a landmark judgment in 2007 that prevented people with pleural plaques from taking legal action. They called for compensation for the condition, which is scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos fibres, to be brought back.
Adrian Budgen, industrial illness specialist at Irwin Mitchell solicitors, said they were disappointed that a year on from consultations being opened, a decision on pleural plaques had still not be made.
"It is unfair to keep sufferers of this disease waiting to hear whether they can receive compensation for their condition. The Government's mixed messages are not bringing any piece of mind to pleural plaque sufferers, he added.