Asbestosis Victims Suffer Benefit Cuts

April 11, 2011 - PRLog -- The coalition government has recently proposed to replace the Retail Price Index (RPI) with the introduction of the lower Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the basis of  determining the level of benefits automatically awarded under the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to sufferers of terminal illnesses.

In addition, a reduction in the overall cost of the Disability Living Allowance, itself, by 20 per cent has been proposed by the removal of the lower rate, plus care home residents look likely to also lose the DLA mobility element.

The proposed changes will also affect those men and women who are disabled as a direct consequence of suffering fatal asbestos-related diseases, asbestosis and mesothelioma. Asbestos disease victims, who are inevitably, dependent on welfare benefits, also face cuts to both their benefits and compensation.

According to the HSE ( Health & Safety Executive) there were 2,249 mesothelioma deaths - the latest fatality figures recorded in 2008 -  but with the addition of the number of asbestos-related lung cancers, producing a total of just over 4,000 annual asbestos-related deaths.

A rising figure of over 800 new cases of asbestosis was also reported in 2009 by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Industrial Injuries and Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme. Throughout the 1990s, the patient survival rate was little more than 12 months post-diagnosis and by 2001, death by complications relating to asbestosis reached 160.

At present, the UK death rate from mesothelioma stands at the word’s highest with a ratio of 1 in 170 of all UK males born in the 1940’s who will die of the terminally-fatal disease, and the number of deaths forecast to steadily rise to a peak of over 2,000 by the year 2016.

Although other awards received, such as from an asbestosis claim or mesothelioma compensation are unaffected, terminally ill asbestos disease suffers who lose their means-tested benefits as a result of receiving Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit suffer a double blow as they have been totally dependent on the ‘protected’ payments of the Disability Living Allowance.

The loss is also likely to impact on other forms of income additionally received as a result of  having been awarded Disability Living Allowance.

The savage cutbacks will, undoubtedly, cause excessive additional hardship and anxiety in the last days for asbestos-disease victims and their families, who have been coming to terms with the terrible legacy of the UK’s asbestos use throughout most of the 20th Century.

Visit http://www.asbestosvictimadvice.com for more information and advice.

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