Newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma – the aggressive and fatal cancer caused by asbestos – are to receive help for the first time through a new support scheme, as part of a bill currently going through Parliament.

The package will award over £350 million over ten years to around 3,000 mesothelioma victims across the UK who have been prevented from claiming compensation because they cannot trace a liable employer or an employers’ liability insurer.

The draft legislation brings hope for those working in heavy industries like shipbuilding, where asbestos was in widespread use before being banned completely in 1999.

Mesothelioma, which often takes 40 to 50 years to present symptoms after exposure to asbestos, has resulted in over 300 people every year struggling to find a relevant party to sue for damages, because companies become insolvent or insurance records go missing.

The new package of support – funded by insurance firms – will pay nearly 900 eligible people in 2014 and 300 every year after that, until 2024. Victims or their dependants (where the sufferer has died), will receive substantially higher payments than the statutory schemes currently operated by government. On average, a successful applicant will receive a sum of £115,000 before benefit recovery.

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