Citation, commencement and application

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) (Payment of Claims) Amendment Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 1st September 1997.

(2) These Regulations shall apply in relation to any case in which a person first satisfies the conditions of entitlement to a payment under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 on or after the date on which they come into force.

Amendment of the principal Regulations

2. In the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) (Payment of Claims) Regulations 1988(2)-

(a)for the Schedule to those Regulations there shall be substituted the Schedule to these Regulations;

(b)in regulations 5(1) and 8 (minimum amounts payable to dependant), for the amount of £1,803 there shall be substituted the amount of £1,852;

(c)in regulation 6(1) (payment where pneumoconiosis is accompanied by tuberculosis), for the amount of £3,731 there shall be substituted the amount of £3,832.

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE

Regulations 3, 4, 5 and 6

"SCHEDULE

TABLE 1

(1) This table is for the determination of payments to disabled persons under regulation 3 (or, as the case may be, regulation 6), and for the determination of payments to dependants of deceased sufferers under regulation 4(1).

(2) The relevant period is the period specified in regulation 3(2) or 3(3) or, in the case of a disabled person to whom regulation 6 applies, the person specified in paragraph (1)(b) of that regulation.

(3) The age to be taken for the purpose of determining the amount payable to a disabled person is his age on the date specified in regulation 3(2) or 3(3) or, in the case of a disabled person to whom regulation 6 applies, his age on the date specified in paragraph (1) of that regulation. In determining the amount payable to a dependant of a disabled person under regulation 4(1), the age to be taken for the purpose of calculating the sum to be deduced from the amount which would have been payable to the disabled person had he still been alive is the age of the deceased at his last birthday preceding his death.

PART APAYMENTS TO DISABLED PERSONS TO WHOM IS PAYABLE DISABLEMENT BENEFIT UNDER SECTION 108 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS ACT 1992 OR UNDER ANY CORRESPONDING PROVISION OF THE FORMER INDUSTRIAL INJURIES ACTS, OR WOULD BE PAYABLE BUT FOR THE DISABLEMENT AMOUNTING TO LESS THAN THE APPROPRIATE PERCENTAGE.

PART BPAYMENTS TO DISABLED PERSONS TO WHOM IS PAYABLE AN ALLOWANCE UNDER A SCHEME MADE OR HAVING EFFECT AS IF MADE UNDER SCHEDULE 8, PARAGRAPH 4 TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS ACT 1992 OR UNDER ANY CORRESPONDING PROVISION OF THE FORMER OLD CASES ACTS.

TABLE 2

(1) Table 2 is for the determination of payments to dependants of deceased suffers who died as a result of the disease under regulation 4(2) or regulation 4(6).

(2) The relevant period is the period specified in regulation 3(2) or 3(3) or, in the case of a disabled person to whom regulation 6 applies (Payment where pneumoconiosis is accompanied by tuberculosis), the period specified in paragraph 1(b) of that regulation.

PART APAYMENTS TO DEPENDANTS TO WHOM DEATH BENEFIT UNDER SECTION 108 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS ACT 1992 IS PAYABLE, OR TO DEPENDANTS OF PERSONS TO WHOM DISABLEMENT BENEFIT UNDER THAT SECTION OR UNDER ANY CORRESPONDING PROVISION OF THE FORMER INDUSTRIAL INJURIES ACTS WAS PAYABLE, OR TO DEPENDANTS OF A PERSON TO WHOM DISABLEMENT BENEFIT WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYABLE IMMEDIATELY BEFORE HE DIED BUT FOR THE OCCURRENCE OF ONE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES LISTED IN REGULATION 5(1)(a)(iii) OR BUT FOR HIS DISABLEMENT AMOUNTING TO LESS THAN THE APPROPRIATE PERCENTAGE, IN CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE THE DISABLED PERSON DIED AS A RESULT OF A DISEASE OTHER THAN DIFFUSE MESOTHELIOMA.

PART BPAYMENTS TO DEPENDANTS TO WHOM DEATH BENEFIT UNDER A SCHEME MADE OR HAVING EFFECT AS IF MADE UNDER SCHEDULE 8, PARAGRAPH 4, TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS ACT 1992 HAS BEEN PAID, OR TO DEPENDANTS OF PERSONS TO WHOM AN ALLOWANCE UNDER SUCH A SCHEME OR UNDER A SCHEME MADE OR HAVING EFFECT AS IF MADE UNDER ANY CORRESPONDING PROVISION OF THE FORMER OLD CASES ACTS WAS PAYABLE, IN CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE THE DISABLED PERSON DIED AS A RESULT OF A DISEASE OTHER THAN DIFFUSE MESOTHELIOMA.

PART CPAYMENTS TO DEPENDANTS OF PERSONS WHO DIED AS A RESULT OF DIFFUSE MESOTHELIOMA.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 ("the Act") lump sum payments may be made to certain persons disabled by a disease to which the Act applies, or to dependants of persons who were so disabled immediately before they died.

These Regulations amend the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) (Payment of Claims) Regulations 1988, as amended, so as to increase the amount payable under the Act. The increase in each case is 2.7 per cent, rounded up or down to the nearest £1 as appropriate.

The diseases to which the Act applies are pneumoconiosis, byssinosis, diffuse mesothelioma, primary carcinoma of the lung (where accompanied by asbestosis or diffuse pleural thickening) and diffuse pleural thickening.