Thousands of seriously ill workers and bereaved families will have their efforts to seek redress against negligent employers severely hampered under new plans to delete Companies House records.
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is warning Companies House against proposals to delete the details of defunct businesses after six years.
“Sick and injured workers need Companies House records to identify their former employers and the relevant insurers so that they can pursue them for the full compensation they need and deserve,” explained APIL’s president Neil Sugarman.
“Victims of asbestos-related disease mesothelioma, for example, are dying because of exposure at work as far back as the 1980s. Some of those companies who exposed their employees to asbestos are now likely dissolved and the records would be deleted under the plans.
“Without a record of the original company entity, workers and their families may never see justice be served,” said Mr Sugarman.
“APIL members represent many thousands of people each year who need their work records, or their deceased family members’ work records, to pursue recompense or for use in inquests,” he went on.
“There is no possible reason or motivation for deleting company records which should supersede the need to access information on behalf of vulnerable and ill individuals.”
According to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) there were 3,128 mesothelioma claims in Great Britain in 2015/16.*