Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979

Year1979


Pneumoconiosis etc.(Workers' Compensation)Act 1979

1979 CHAPTER 41

An Act to make provision for lump sum payments to or in respect of certain persons who are, or were immediately before they died, disabled by pneumoconiosis, byssinosis or diffuse mesothelioma; and for connected purposes.

[4th April 1979]

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Lump sum payments.

1 Lump sum payments.

(1) If, on a claim by a person who is disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, the Secretary of State is satisfied that the conditions of entitlement mentioned in section 2(1) below are fulfilled, he shall in accordance with this Act make to that person a payment of such amount as may be prescribed by regulations.

(2) If, on a claim by the dependant of a person who, immediately before he died, was disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, the Secretary of State is satisfied that the conditions of entitlement mentioned in section 2(2) below are fulfilled, he shall in accordance with this Act make to that dependant a payment of such amount as may be so prescribed.

(3) The diseases to which this Act applies are pneumoconiosis, byssinosis and diffuse mesothelioma.

(4) Regulations under this section may prescribe different amounts for different cases or classes of cases or for different circumstances.

S-2 Conditions of entitlement.

2 Conditions of entitlement.

(1) In the case of a person who is disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, the conditions of entitlement are—

(a ) that disablement benefit is payable to him in respect of the disease;

(b ) that every relevant employer of his has ceased to carry on business; and

(c ) that he has not brought any action, or compromised any claim, for damages in respect of the disablement.

(2) In the case of the dependant of a person who, immediately before he died, was disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, the conditions of entitlement are—

(a ) that no payment under this Act has been made to the deceased in respect of the disease;

(b ) that death benefit is payable to or in respect of the dependant by reason of the deceased's death as a result of the disease, or that disablement benefit was payable to the deceased in respect of the disease immediately before he died;

(c ) that every relevant employer of the deceased has ceased to carry on business; and

(d ) that neither the deceased nor his personal representatives nor any relative of his has brought any action, or compromised any claim, for damages in respect of the disablement or death.

(3) In this section—

‘death benefit’ means industrial death benefit under section 76 of the Social Security Act 1975 , or death benefit under a scheme made, or having effect as if made, under section 5 of the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975 ;

‘disablement benefit’ means disablement benefit under section 76 of the Social Security Act 1975 or under any corresponding provision of the former Industrial Injuries Acts, or an allowance under a scheme made, or having effect as if made, under section 5 of the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975 or under any corresponding provision of the former Old Cases Acts;

‘the former Industrial Injuries Acts’ means the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946 and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1965 ;

‘the former Old Cases Acts’ means the Pneumoconiosis and Byssinosis Benefit Act 1951 and the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1967 ;

‘relevant employer’, in relation to a person disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, means any person by whom he was employed at any time during the period during which he was developing the disease and against whom he might have or might have had a claim for damages in respect of the disablement.

(4) For the purposes of this section any action which has been dismissed otherwise than on the merits (as for example for want of prosecution or under any enactment relating to the limitation of actions) shall be disregarded.

S-3 Dependants.

3 Dependants.

(1) In this Act ‘dependant’, in relation to a person who, immediately before he died, was disabled by a disease to which this Act applies, means—

(a ) if he left a spouse who was residing with him or was receiving or entitled to receive from him periodical payments for her maintenance, that spouse;

(b ) if paragraph (a ) above does not apply but he left a child or children who fall within subsection (2) below, that child or those children;

(c ) if neither of the preceding paragraphs applies but he left a reputed spouse who was residing with him, that reputed spouse;

(d ) if none of the preceding paragraphs applies, any relative or relatives of his who fall within subsection (2) below and who were, in the opinion of...

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