A little-known Department for Work and Pensions scheme is handing people with one condition £200,000. The Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS) was set up to provide compensation payments to people with mesothelioma who were negligently exposed to asbestos at work but are unable to pursue a civil claim because their former employer no longer exists and their former employer’s insurer cannot be traced.
Since the Scheme was launched in April 2014 it has successfully helped over 1,815 people with Mesothelioma, awarding £254.9 million in compensation payments. The average (mean) payment awarded to successful applicants in the Scheme’s eighth year of operation was £144,000.
You’ll get one payment. The amount you’ll get depends on how old you were when your disease was diagnosed. For example, if you were 60 when your disease was diagnosed, and you qualify, you’ll get a payment of £53,670.
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For those diagnosed after 2015, the range is from £271,120 for those 40 and under, to £87,061 for those 90 and over. You may be able to claim if you were diagnosed with diffuse mesothelioma on or after 25 July 2012, if your mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos when working in the UK and if you cannot trace the employer that exposed you to asbestos, or their insurers.
Other criteria includes if you have not made a civil claim against any employer or insurer and if you have not received damages or a specified payment for mesothelioma and you’re not eligible to a specified payment. Examples of exposure include coming into contact with asbestos from a relative, for instance by washing their clothes.
If you were exposed to asbestos in the environment, for instance you lived near a factory using asbestos, if you were exposed to asbestos while self-employed or if your exposure cannot be specified but it occurred in the United Kingdom are also listed by the DWP.
You can claim a one-off payment if you are not entitled to a payment under the 1979 Pneumoconiosis Act, have not been given a payment for the disease from an employer, a civil claim or elsewhere and are not entitled to compensation from a Ministry of Defence scheme.