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Miners Compensation Claim

‘We don’t believe you’ - the government’s reaction to a mine rescue veteran’s claim

A veteran who spent 23 years as part of a mine rescue team is being made to wait for compensation for an industrial injury - because the government doesn’t believe he worked underground.

The man, who suffers from osteoarthritis of the knee, a condition that the government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has declared is an injury that can be compensated, was asked to provide proof that he actually worked underground. When he submitted his gold and silver medals for long service to the mine rescue team as evidence, he was told it was not sufficient to prove that he had worked underground during his time with the team.

The DWP asked the man for proof because his former employer, the Coal Board, no longer existed. When the man told the DWP about his medals, they claimed that he could have been awarded those for working above ground and did not constitute proof that he had actually worked underground for any length of time during his service. The DWP also refused to accept as evidence that the man was already receiving a pension for nitrous fumes poisoning - a condition directly associated with working in underground mining conditions.

The department then demanded that the man supply them with contact details of former colleagues, which proved to be difficult because so many of them are deceased. Since his local newspaper took up the cause, the DWP has now said that they will investigate the case further, but it is proof that communications between the DWP and those suffering from the long-term effects of working underground are poor at best. The department has said that in order to receive long term benefits, workers have to prove that they worked underground for 10 years or more prior to January 1st 1986. This policy is as a result of a recommendation from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. But it also demonstrates that government policies seem to be standing in the way of rightful claims for compensation and perhaps hints at the fact that the government is reluctant to include conditions such as Vibration White Finger and osteoarthritis in its list of compensatable industrial injuries because of the potential cost.

This intransigent standpoint from a government department over pensions for miners who have suffered as a result of years of exposure to cramped and difficult conditions is being watched carefully by claims experts dealing with compensation applications for such illnesses. Whilst plenty of publicity has been focused on the effects of mesothelioma, the mining community is still coping with a range of industrial diseases and illnesses that are only just starting to be accepted as justifiable reason for miners compensation.

A situation like this, where a man rewarded for his bravery and service to a mining rescue team has to prove that he worked underground sends out a disturbing message. It seems to say that the government is still prepared to fight against claims for compensation and disability pensions, and cite some very strange reasons for their actions. However, if the government thinks that the victims of mining-related diseases and their solicitors are quietly going to drop the campaign for justified compensation, they are very much mistaken. And the fact that a little pressure from the media has made the DWP rethink its position bodes well for that campaign having at least a measure of success. The debate is certain to continue.

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