£5,000 pay-outs for lung disease victims

Some victims of an asbestos-linked condition will receive payouts of £5,000, under a compensation scheme which has finally got under way.

But the move came as the new Government was forced to deny it was pulling the plug on plans for a multi-million pound research centre into the deadly disease.

Meanwhile, no decision has been made on whether to press ahead with a £400m “fund of last resort”, to compensate former workers unable to trace the employers who exposed them to asbestos dust.

The £5,000 compensation will be paid to sufferers from pleural plaques — a scarring of the lungs, that can trigger mesothelioma and lung cancer — who were diagnosed prior to October 17, 2007.

On that day, the Law Lords ruled that the existence of pleural plaques was not “actionable damage”, preventing payouts to anyone diagnosed later.

The Labour government was accused of abandoning future sufferers by deciding not to overturn the ruling, even though it was being overturned in Scotland.

Asbestos exposure is a ticking timebomb‚ in large parts of the North because of its history of heavy industry, particularly among shipbuilders, carpenters, joiners, plumbers and heating engineers.

Now the 6,000 early pleural plaques sufferers can apply for £5,000 payouts, either by telephoning the Ministry of Justice, or by completing an online application form on its website.

To receive compensation, applicants must produce their claim form and documents in support of it, which were sent either to the defendant or insurer. Failing that, they must supply proof of diagnosis of pleural plaques.

Details about eligibility for the scheme and how to apply are available at www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/pleural-plaques-compensation-scheme.htm or by telephoning the helpline on (0300) 303 8150.

Before the election, Labour pledged funding for a national centre for asbestos-related diseases, to be kick-started with £3m promised by insurers.

In a parliamentary answer, health minister Simon Burns ducked a challenge to confirm that funding, prompting a Labour MP to warn that the promise was about to ditched.

But, in a statement, the department of health (DoH) insisted it had asked the National Cancer Research Institute to carry out a review of future research.

The “fund of last resort” was proposed under a consultation run by the department for work and pensions (DWP), which closed on May 5. Since the election, the coalition has been silent on the issue.

A DWP spokesman said: “We have not yet responded to the consultation and we have no timetable for doing so.”