The Government has resisted reform of the law on statutory bereavement damages in England and Wales in a “sickening display of indifference” towards grieving relatives, APIL said this week.

In response to parliamentary questions published on Monday (17 April) the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the current law on bereavement damages in England and Wales “represents a reasonable, proportionate and practical approach”.

“The Government’s reluctance even to consider further reform is a snub to bereaved families, and flies in the face of consistent calls for modernisation of the law,” said APIL president John McQuater in a press release.

The MoJ was asked by Labour MP Lilian Greenwood about progress to extend eligibility for bereavement damages to bereaved fathers who are not married or in a civil partnership with their children’s mothers. In 2020, the MoJ told Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights that it would “consider the merits” of amending the law for fathers of these children “when a suitable opportunity arises”.

Three years on, the Government appears to have abandoned that commitment.

In the written answers the MoJ said that changes to eligibility for other family members including fathers of so-called illegitimate children “whose relationship to the deceased person may be less close may require a fundamentally different approach...”

Ms Greenwood, who hosted APIL’s parliamentary reception on bereavement damages last year, also asked about why unmarried fathers are denied bereavement damages, and whether the Government would increase the statutory amount of bereavement damages. All three questions received the same response.

“The Joint Committee on Human Rights made a clear recommendation that reform to the law on statutory bereavement damages is needed, as did the Law Commission before it, but the Government continues to brush the issue under the carpet in a sickening display of indifference to bereaved families,” said John.

Members should look out for a special email next week from APIL chief executive Mike Benner with details about how to get involved with the next stage of APIL’s ongoing campaign.

APIL has joined forces with the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum to launch a new campaign to help victims of asbestos-related lung cancer receive full compensation.

As the law stands currently, the only way a lung cancer sufferer can recover full compensation is by tracing all the employers responsible for the asbestos exposure. Compensation is then apportioned between the different employers and victims must claim compensation from each individual employer responsible, or their insurers, if they are to receive full compensation.

But as members who specialise in these claims are well aware, it is not always possible to trace all liable employers and this leaves some lung cancer sufferers with significant shortfalls in their compensation.  

The aim of the campaign is to reform the law to make asbestos-related lung cancer an ‘indivisible’ disease, which means that if one liable employer can be found, that employer or, more usually the insurer, would pay full compensation. This is the approach taken with mesothelioma and the two types of cancer are barely distinguishable.

The campaign is in its infancy but an initial campaign plan has been agreed, legislation has been drafted, briefings prepared and target MPs are being approached. Evidence collected by the forum during campaign preparation suggests powerful arguments can be made about the relatively modest cost of reform compared with the significant impact on vulnerable people whose lives have been shattered by negligent exposure to asbestos. 

Members will be updated regularly on progress through Weekly News and PI Focus.

APIL has supported Welsh Government plans to bring in mandatory licences for tattooing, piercing, electrolysis, and acupuncture, in response to a consultation on licensing for special procedures.

In a press release issued to Welsh media this week, APIL executive committee member Michael Imperato spoke about how “mandatory licenses help reduce the risk by setting out clear criteria that practitioners must adhere to.”

“These treatments can have life-changing implications for the individuals receiving them if they go wrong. People should expect to go into a tattoo studio and come out with a new tattoo, not a blood borne disease or sepsis,” he said.

Members can read the full press release here.

Read the consultation response here.

Injured people are inherently cautious with their investments, a fact that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) fails to recognise, APIL’s president explains to readers of The Times in an opinion piece published today.

The article by John McQuater follows closure of an MoJ consultation which includes plans to adopt different personal injury discount rates depending on how long the compensation needs to last.

“Seriously injured people are not ordinary investors because the compensation is likely to be all the available funds that person will now ever have,” said John.

“A higher discount rate, reducing the lump sum payable for people with long life expectancy, will pile additional pressure on them to take greater risks when investing their compensation. Meanwhile, that higher rate would hand insurers a windfall,” said John.

Subscribers to The Times can read the full article here.

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