Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that family members of people who have underlying industrial diseases, but who die from covid-19, are allowed to put in posthumous claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Under existing rules, the dependants of anyone who dies after being diagnosed with a prescribed disease may make a posthumous claim for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, provided that they do so within one year of the issue of the deceased’s death certificate.
For an award to be made, the death does not need to be in respect of the prescribed disease but may be from any cause, including for example where COVID-19 was a contributory factor. Payments to dependants usually equate to up to 3 months’ worth of benefit, but may sometimes be higher.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have put in claims for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire, (c) the borough of Rotherham and (d) Rother Valley constituency in the last calendar year.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on claims and assessments under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme here:
The claims information, published by Region, is available in table 1.6.
The other geographical breakdowns are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.