Industrial disease victims need to get help quicker - Compensation and Personal Injury Claims - Andersons Solicitors Nottingham

The insurance industry is facing increasing criticism for failing to help the victims of industrial diseases quickly enough.

Some cases are allowed to drag on for years so that many victims miss out on the help they need to alleviate their suffering and make their lives more comfortable. Some even die before their cases are settled.

Large insurance companies are partly to blame for using delaying tactics to drag cases out unnecessarily.

There’s been a growing problem involving sufferers who developed a disease many years ago while working for a company that has since gone out of business.

In these cases, the victim has to trace his former employer’s insurance company, which can be very difficult. The insurance industry is supposed to help as part of a voluntary code drawn up with the government but recently it’s been failing to do so.

The number of successful traces fell by 14 per cent in 2003, the last year for which figures are available. The insurance industry has given no explanation as to why this should be. They’re very quick to make accusations about so called compensation culture but somewhat slower in helping people in need.

It’s more than two years since the government insisted the success rate for traces must be improved. Insurance companies have done nothing about it and it’s time they were forced to set up a central database that would be quick and easy to search.

That would speed the system up and get help more quickly to those who desperately need it.

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