In our blog post of 19 February 2014 on Mesothelioma (UK: Mesothelioma – Where are we now that Royal Assent has been given?) we noted that the Government had not provided a full response to its July 2013 consultation on proposals to speed up the settlement of mesothelioma claims in England and Wales. This has now been published.
Key aspects of the reforms were reported in our February post, but it is worth pointing out that:
- The Government intends that the Scheme will start taking applications next month, in April 2014.
- The Government will not be taking forward a dedicated Mesothelioma Pre-Action Protocol supported by a fixed recoverable costs regime.
- Payments under the Scheme will be increased so that eligible individuals can expect to receive an average payment of £123,000 which has increased from previous estimates.