The Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit Scheme 1983

Made: 9th February 1983

Laid before Parliament: 23rd February 1983

Coming into Operation: 16th March 1983

The Secretary of State for Social Services, after consultation with the Council on Tribunals insofar as required by section 10 of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1971, and with the consent of the Treasury, in exercise of powers conferred by sections 4(2), (3) and (4) (as applied by section 8(1) ), 5, 8(3) and (4), 9(1), 10(1), 12, 13 and 14(2) of the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, and for the purpose only of consolidating schemes hereby revoked, hereby makes the following scheme:—

PART I — GENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation

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• (1) This scheme may be cited as the Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit Scheme 1983 , and shall come into operation on 16th March 1983.

• (2) In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the Act” means the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975;

• “the 1998 Act” means the Social Security Act 1998;

• “the Social Security Act” means the Social Security Act 1975;

• “the Industrial Diseases (Benefit) Acts” means the Pneumoconiosis and Byssinosis Benefit Act 1951 and the Industrial Diseases (Benefit) Act 1954;

• “the Workmen's Compensation Acts” means the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1925 to 1945, and any enactments repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925;

• “the Administrative Board” has the meaning assigned to it by article 11 of the Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit Scheme 1966 immediately before the Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit (Amendment) (No.2) Scheme 1977 came into operation;

• “allowance” means an allowance payable by virtue of Part II of this scheme and includes any increase thereof;

• “the appropriate determining authority” means the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal;

• ‘asbestosis’ means fibrosis of the parenchyma of the lungs due to the inhalation of asbestos dust;

• “beneficiary” means a person entitled to an allowance under this scheme;

• “child benefit” means benefit under Part I of the Child Benefit Act 1975;

• “claimant” means a person claiming an allowance or death benefit under this scheme and includes, in relation to the revision or supersession of a decision, a person affected by that decision;

• “corresponding disablement pension rate” means the weekly rate for the time being of a pension payable under section 57(6) of the Social Security Act in respect of an assessment of 100 per cent;

• “death benefit” means the benefit payable under this scheme in respect of the death of any person;

• “foundry” means those parts of industrial premises where the production of metal articles (other than pig iron or steel ingots) is carried on by casting (not being diecasting or other casting in metal moulds), together with any part of the same premises where any of the following processes are carried on incidentally to such production, namely the drying and subsequent preparation of moulds and cores, knock-out operations and dressing or fettling operations;

• “medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who has experience in the issues specified in regulation 12(1) of the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999;

• “medical board” means the medical board appointed under paragraph 3 of the Silicosis and Asbestosis (Medical Arrangements) Scheme 1931;

• “a specially qualified medical practitioner” means a member of a medical board;

• “pneumoconiosis” means fibrosis of the lungs due to silica dust, asbestos dust or other dust and includes the condition of the lungs known as dust reticulation; and in the case of a person who suffers or has suffered from pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis, the effects of the tuberculosis may be treated as if they were the effects of the pneumoconiosis and in the case of a person who suffers or has suffered from pneumoconiosis or pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis, to an extent which would, if his physical condition were otherwise normal, be of a gravity comparable to an assessment of not less than 50 per cent under the Social Security Act, the effects of any accompanying emphysema or chronic bronchitis may be treated as if they were the effects of the pneumoconiosis;

• “relevant injury or disease” in relation to any person means an injury or disease in respect of which he is or has at any time after 4th July 1956 been entitled to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation or of an allowance payable by virtue of any scheme made under the Act, the Industrial Diseases (Benefit) Acts or the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Act 1951, including this scheme;

• “workmen's compensation” means compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1925 to 1945, the enactments repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925 and the enactments repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1906 or under any contracting out scheme duly certified under any of those Acts or any payments under the Workmen's Compensation (War Addition) Acts 1917 and 1919 or under the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementary Allowances) Act 1940 as amended by the Workmen's Compensation (Temporary Increases) Act 1943

• (3) For the purposes of this scheme—

• (a) a claim for an allowance in respect of total disablement or total incapacity for work for a considerable period made by a person who has previously been awarded an allowance in respect of partial disablement shall be treated, for the purposes of the provisions relating to the making of claims, as a separate claim;

• (b) a period shall be treated as considerable if it lasts or can be expected to last for not less than 13 weeks;

• (c) a person may be treated as being, as the result of pneumoconiosis, byssinosis or any of the diseases set out in Schedule 1 hereto, or as the joint result of such a disease and one or more other relevant injuries or diseases, totally incapable of work and likely to remain so incapable for a considerable period notwithstanding that the disability resulting from the disease or, as the case may be, diseases or injuries taken together, is not such as to prevent him from being capable of work, if it is likely to prevent his earnings (including any remuneration or profit derived from a gainful occupation) exceeding in a year such amount as is for the time being prescribed in pursuance of section 58(3) of the Social Security Act (unemployability supplement).

• (4) For the purposes of this scheme, 2 persons shall not be treated as having ceased to reside together if they would not have been so treated under regulation 2 of the Local Security Benefit (Persons Residing Together) Regulations 1977 (circumstances in which persons are not to be treated as having ceased to reside together).

• (5) Except insofar as the context otherwise requires—

• (a) any reference in this scheme to a numbered Part, article or Schedule is a reference to the Part, article or Schedule of or to this scheme bearing that number;

• (b) any reference in an article to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph of that article bearing that number; and

• (c) any reference in a paragraph to a lettered sub-paragraph is to the sub-paragraph of that paragraph bearing that letter.

PART II — ALLOWANCES AND DEATH BENEFIT

Benefit payable under this scheme

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• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this scheme, benefit as hereinafter provided shall be payable out of money provided by Parliament to or in respect of any person—

• (a) who is totally or partially disabled or dies, or who has died at any time after 31st December 1949, as a result of pneumoconiosis or byssinosis if the conditions in paragraph (2) are satisfied; or

• (b) who is a person who is totally or partially disabled (such disablement being likely to be permanent) as a result of any of the diseases set out in the first column of Schedule 1 or who dies or has died as a result of any of those diseases at any time after, in each case, the date set out in Schedule 4 against the number corresponding to the number given to that disease in the first column of Schedule 1, if he was a person who has been employed in Great Britain before 5th July 1948 in any of the occupations set against that disease in the second column of Schedule 1; or

• (c) who, being a person who satisfies the conditions for benefit for partial disablement under sub-paragraph (a) or (b), is totally incapable of work and likely to remain so incapable for a considerable period as a joint result either of 2 or more of the diseases referred to in those sub-paragraphs or of one such disease and one or more other relevant injuries or diseases.

• (2) Benefit shall only be payable to or in respect of any person who is disabled or dies or who has died as a result of pneumoconiosis or byssinosis—

• (a) if he has been employed in Great Britain before 5th July 1948 in any of the occupations in the case of which the disease is prescribed in relation to persons employed in employed earner's employment by virtue of regulations made under section 76 of the Social Security Act which are in force at the date on which this scheme comes into operation or are made at any time thereafter during his lifetime;

• (b) if, except in a case where benefit under this scheme or any scheme revoked by this scheme, in respect of the disease has previously been awarded, the disease is not prescribed in relation to him under the Social Security Act;

• (c) if it is decided by the Secretary of State—

• (i) that he is totally disabled as a result of the disease; or

• (ii) that, though not totally disabled, he is or was partially disabled, within the meaning of article 14, as a result of the disease; or

• (iii) that he has died as a result of the disease.

• (3) For the purposes of this scheme, the expression “partially disabled” means in relation to any person claiming benefit as a result of a disease other than pneumoconiosis or byssinosis that, though not totally disabled by any of the diseases set out in Schedule 1, that person is suffering from the disease to such a degree that his general physical capacity for employment is thereby impaired.

Restriction on payment of benefit

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• (1) Subject to the provision of paragraph (2), benefit shall not be payable to or in respect of a person who is disabled or dies or has died as a result of pneumoconiosis or byssinosis or any of the diseases set out in Schedule 1 if throughout the employment mentioned in article 2 he was employed otherwise than as a workman within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925, or if in respect of any attack of the disease suffered by him—

• (a) he or any person is or has been entitled to benefit under Chapter IV or V of Part II of the Social Security Act;

• (b) he or any other person would be or would have been so entitled but for the operation of section 82, 85 or 91 of the Social Security Act (which sections relate respectively to disqualification and suspension, overlapping benefits and adjustment for successive accidents);

• (c) he or any person is or has been entitled to any payment corresponding to such benefit under any legislation of Northern Ireland;

• (d) he, or any person, being a member of his family within the meaning of the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925, has received or is entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts or by virtue of any scheme made or certified thereunder (other than compensation in respect of total or partial incapacity for work under the Refractories Industries (Silicosis) Scheme 1931 or the Sandstone Industry (Silicosis) Scheme 1931 [^f00002] or by virtue of any scheme or law in force in any country or territory outside Great Britain providing for compensation in respect of the disease;

• (e) he would have received or would be entitled to such compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts or by virtue of any scheme made or certified as aforesaid but for the fact that he was or is entitled to receive compensation in respect of disablement from any other disease or in respect of an injury by accident; or

• (f) he, or his personal representative, or any of his relatives has recovered any sum by way of damages whether at common law or under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, or the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934.

• (2) The provisions of paragraph (1)(d), (e) and (f) shall not operate to prevent benefit from being payable to or in respect of any person in any case in which the disablement or death in respect of which the claim is made is the result of a separate and fresh contraction of the disease.

Allowances payable under this scheme

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this scheme, the benefit payable—

• (a) in cases of disablement due to pneumoconiosis, byssinosis or any of the diseases set out in Schedule 1 shall be an allowance—

• (i) for any period during which the disablement is total, at the corresponding disablement pension rate; or

• (ii) for any period during which the disablement is partial, at the weekly rate specified in section 7(2)(b) of the Act;

• (b) in cases of total incapacity for work for a considerable period as a joint result of 2 or more relevant injuries or diseases, at least one of which is a disease referred to in article 2(1)(a) or (b), shall be an allowance at the corresponding disablement pension rate;

and such allowances shall be payable in any such case at the appropriate rate from the date (not being a date earlier than the date on which this scheme comes into operation) as from which it is determined by the appropriate determining authority that the claimant was totally incapable of work or totally or partially so disabled, as the case may be, having regard, in the case of disablement due to pneumoconiosis or byssinosis, to the date decided by the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of article 14(4).

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)—

• (a) for any period during which the claimant is totally disabled as a result of one of the said diseases or totally incapable of work as a joint result of 2 or more of the said diseases or of one or more such diseases and one or more injuries or diseases entitling the claimant to workmen's compensation, the weekly rate of benefit shall be reduced—

• (i) by the amount of any allowance payable to him in excess of £1.00 for partial disablement due to any of the said diseases; and

• (ii) by the amount of any workmen's compensation payable to him in respect of any relevant injury or disease; and

• (b) subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (a), a person shall not, in respect of the same period, be entitled to receive 2 or more allowances under this scheme at an aggregate weekly rate exceeding the corresponding disablement pension rate.

• (3) A claimant shall not be entitled to an allowance unless he is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom at the date of the claim or was, immediately before 10th March 1952, in receipt of any such benefit or payment as is mentioned in article 10.

• (4) An increase of allowance under the provisions of article 5, 6, 7 or 8 shall not be payable for any period during which the person entitled to the allowance is absent from the United Kingdom except that—

• (a) a person shall not be disqualified from receiving an increase of allowance under article 5 or 6 by reason of being temporarily absent from the United Kingdom during a period in which that person is entitled to receive an increase of allowance on account of unemployability under article 7;

• (b) a person shall not be disqualified from receiving an increase of allowance under article 8 by reason of being temporarily absent from the United Kingdom during the period of 6 months from the date on which such absence commences or during such longer period as the Secretary of State may, having regard to the purposes of the absence and any other factors which appear to him to be relevant, allow;

• (c) a person shall not be disqualified from receiving an increase of allowance under article 7 by reason of being temporarily absent from the United Kingdom.

Increase of allowance in respect of wife

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (3), for any period during which a person entitled to an allowance in respect of total disablement would be treated as residing with his or her spouse or civil partner or contributing to his or her maintenance at a weekly rate of not less than the amount specified in paragraph (2) the weekly rate of the allowance payable to that person shall, subject to the provisions of Schedule 2, be increased by the amount specified in paragraph (2).

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) and of paragraph 2 of Schedule 2, the specified amount shall be an amount equal to the increase of benefit in respect of an adult dependant specified in paragraph 1(a) of Part IV of Schedule 4 to the Social Security Act.

• (3) Where a person is also entitled to an increase of allowance under the provisions of article 7(1), and is residing with his or her spouse or civil partner, the provisions of paragraph 1(b) of Schedule 2 shall not have effect, but where the earnings of his or her spouse or civil partner for the calendar week ending last before any week for which he or she is entitled to any such increase of allowance exceeded the amount first stated in section 66(4) of the Social Security Act, the increase of allowance under this article shall be reduced in the manner provided by the said section 66(4), and for those purposes the earnings of his or her spouse or civil partner shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of regulations 2 to 5 of the Social Security Benefits (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1978.

• (4) Where in any case a person is entitled to an increase of allowance under the provisions of article 7(1), the foregoing provisions of this article shall apply but with the substitution of the words “paragraph 12 of Part V” for the words “paragraph 1(a) of Part IV” in paragraph (2).

Increase of allowance in respect of children

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