APPENDIX 2
Memorandum by the Department of Trade
and Industry
TERMS OF
REFERENCE
The Committee intends to review the scope of
the two schemes and their administration, including claims registration
and handling, the coordination of these processes with the medical
assessment procedures, the claims settlement process and the scope
for accelerating the settlement and payment of claims.
INDEX
Title Page—Including Terms of Reference
Index
Glossary
Introduction
Background
Judgments and Handling Agreements
Flowchart for COPD claims
Flowchart for VWF Services claims
Progress
Constraints
Electronic delivery
Communications
Monitoring the Processes
Fraud
Efficiency
Recent Progress
Remaining Issues
Aspirational Scheme End Dates
Conclusion
Annex A—Copy of the COPD CHA on CD-Rom[1]
Annex B—Copy of the VWF CHA on CD-Rom*
Annex C—Copy of the latest COPD quarterly
report to court
Annex D—Copy of the latest VWF quarterly
report to court
Annex E—COPD Claims Process
Annex F—VWF Claims Process
Annex G1 & G2—Headline Statistics
Annex H—Top 25 constituencies by total
compensation
GLOSSARY
ASEDS—Aspirational Scheme End Dates
BCC—British Coal Corporation
CAPITA—Is not an acronym
CB—Chronic Bronchitis
CBE—Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema
CG—Coordinating Group (the negotiating
group of solicitors)
CHA—Claims Handling Agreement (COPD)/Arrangement
(VWF)
CLU—Coal Liabilities Unit
COPD—Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
DWP—Department for Work and Pensions
FEV1—Forced Expiratory Volume (of air
breathed out in first second)
FVC—Forced Vital Capacity (maximum volume
of air that can be breathed out with maximum effort)
IRISC—Is not an acronym
MAP—Medical Assessment Process
RS—Respiratory Specialist
VWF—Vibration White Finger
INTRODUCTION
1. The British Coal health compensation
schemes have attracted considerable regional media and Parliamentary
attention since the original court judgments seven years ago.
This has increased over recent months, following the introduction
of initiatives by the Department, miners' solicitors and Sir Michael
Turner, the judge who oversees the respiratory disease litigation,
for speeding up the claims process.
2. This memorandum responds to a call by
the Trade and Industry Select Committee for evidence in relation
to the progress and administration of the coal health schemes.
BACKGROUND
Judgments and Handling Agreements
3. DTI has responsibility for the two largest
personal injury compensation schemes in the world, one for lung
diseases due to coal dust (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease),
the second for hand injuries due to vibration (Vibration White
Finger). There are nearly 770,000 claims registered under the
schemes, which are both now closed to new claimants. Costs are
likely to be around £7.5 billion, with nearly £2.5 billion
paid to date. Nothing like this, in size or complexity, has been
attempted before. The Coal Liabilities Unit administers the schemes
with some forty staff plus 1,700 people at six service providers
involved in delivery.
4. DTI took on these liabilities from British
Coal on 1 January 1998 under the Coal Industry Act 1994. It had
not been feasible to pass them on to purchasers of the pits due
to uncertainty as to their nature and size and difficulty in obtaining
employer's liability insurance. British Coal was taken to the
High Court in two separate group actions and found negligent in
both, in January 1998 for COPD and July 1997 for VWF. British
Coal was found negligent in relation to exposure to coal dust
from 1954 to 1994 and in relation to VWF from 1975 to 1994.
5. The courts ordered DTI and the miners'
solicitors to agree detailed arrangements to assess compensation.
The alternative, each claimant having to fight in court, was unacceptable
to all, not least because the Personal Injury courts' capacity
is in the region of 10,000 claims per year. Detailed Claims Handling
Agreements (CHAs) for dealing with the claims, which have now
been signed up to by 700 or so firms of solicitors acting for
individual claimants, were negotiated with the claimants' solicitors
coordinating group (CG).
6. As the judgments did not cover Scottish
claims, a separate agreement for each scheme was negotiated for
these. These agreements are substantially the same as those for
England and Wales, differing only where Scottish law is different.
In addition, separate agreements were also signed with the Union
of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) which were identical to those
signed with the CG except for the levels of costs paid, which
were lower as the UDM handle claims through their own claims handling
agent.
7. The CHAs for each disease were then endorsed
by the two High Court judges who manage all claims. They are necessarily
complex as they specify how claims will be handled, in accordance
with common law, and they reflect the judgments in the test cases
presented in the group actions. Awards are set (at court levels)
for given levels of injury, payments for financial loss due to
that injury, and the broad weight of evidence is as required by
a court. This is different to a "no-fault" scheme (eg
the Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis Scheme ) where less evidence
is needed and smaller, less discriminatory awards are made. The
courts oversee the CHAs' operation aiming to avoid further court
action. The judges resolve points of law and DTI and the CG report
back to them regularly (3-4 times a year) on progress in settling
claims. As the CHAs are contracts between DTI and the solicitors
all changes are by mutual agreement. Copies of the CHAs are attached,
on CD-Rom, at Annex A (COPD) and Annex B (VWF). In addition, copies
of the most recent reports to the Court are attached at Annex
C (COPD) and Annex D (VWF).
The conditions
8. COPD covers chronic bronchitis and emphysema,
with breathlessness the main symptom, as the lungs cannot get
enough oxygen into the blood, and thus into the muscles, to allow
normal exertion. COPD is irreversible and untreatable, usually
progressive and can cause premature death. In the general population,
the most common cause is smoking. VWF affects the fingers, with
damage to blood vessels and nerves, and varies from temporary
numbness and tingling, through reduced dexterity, to amputation
in severe cases. It is irreversible and untreatable and worse
when exposed to cold.
Parties to the Process
9. The Schemes are managed by the DTI who
negotiate changes to the CHAs with the Claimants Group (CG). The
CG represent the solicitors in the process. Sir Michael Turner
presides as Court case manager for the COPD Scheme and Dame Janet
Smith for the VWF Scheme. The administration of the Schemes is
delivered through service providers contracted to the DTI who
are responsible for claims handling, medical services, record
collection and legal advice. The solicitors act on behalf of claimants
and mainly deal direct with the DTI's claims handlers.
10. A more detailed summary of the other
parties responsibilities are detailed below:
(a) Claimants Solicitors/UDM—Claims
are submitted to the DTI Claims Handlers, IRISC. The DTI does
not deal directly with claimants. Claimants representatives are
responsible for taking instructions from their clients and providing
the appropriate information and documentation to IRISC. They are
responsible for assessing offers and arranging acceptance and
payment.
(b) DTI Claims Handlers—IRISC have
been the claims handling service providers for both Schemes since
the CHAs were agreed in 1999. They were originally part of the
Aon Group until February 2004 when Capita assumed responsibility
for the service. Claims are processed at offices in Sheffield,
Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
IRISC's responsibilities include claims
registration, agreeing employment history, collating the documentation
prior to medical records collection for COPD, valuing claims,
making offers where appropriate and providing claims handling
policy advice to the DTI. They also have an MPs' unit that provides
answers to MP enquiries and information for parliamentary questions,
in consultation with CLU.
(c) Medical assessment—COPD—Healthcall
were the service providers for the COPD Medical Assessment from
1999 to 2002. Responsibility for this transferred to Atos Origin,
formerly known as SchlumbergerSema in November 2002.
Atos Origin sub contract the collection
of medical records to Elision previously known as MPC.
(d) Medical Assessment - VWF—ATOS Origin,
formerly known as SchlumbergerSema, have been service providers
for VWF General Damages since the formation of the CHA.
Aon Health Solutions were the original
service providers for the VWF Services medical assessment process
when it commenced in April 2003. Capita took over the company
and assumed responsibility for this service in March 2004.
(e) British Coal records holder;—Hays
Record Management was originally the British Coal Records holder.
The business was subsequently purchased by Iron Mountain. Whilst
Iron Mountain store the British Coal Records all the data is wholly
owned by the Department.
(f) Legal Service Provider—Nabarro
Nathanson are the DTI's legal service provider for both schemes.
They assist in the provision of legal advice to the DTI and with
the management of the court process. McClure Naismith provide
specific advice in relation to Scottish issues.
11. Disputes Procedures covering all aspects
of claims handling, including medical issues, have been agreed
for each disease with the CG. If the issues in dispute cannot
be resolved the cases can, with the judges' agreement, go back
to court. However, to keep to an absolute minimum the number of
cases that go back to court, the option of mediation (a form of
Alternative Dispute Resolution) is available after the disputes
procedure. To date no cases have proceeded back to court.
12. Claims for deceased miners are handled
in broadly the same way as living claimants, using any medical
records, a death certificate and post mortem report (for COPD),
and DWP assessment for VWF. A statutory bereavement award is payable
to the widow where COPD was the main or a contributory cause of
death.
13. Diagrams showing the flow of the claims
handling processes are below , and descriptions of the process
are attached at Annex E (COPD) and Annex F (VWF).
MEDICAL ASSESSMENTS
14. The CHAs set out the medical assessments
which will be conducted. The assessment processes were agreed
by the Department and the CG with advice from senior medical experts
in each condition. The assessing doctors are regarded as joint
experts answerable to both the Department and the CG. These defined
medical assessments for each disease produce consistent, reliable
reports and replace the individual referrals by each party to
a doctor of their choice, which is more usual in common law cases.
Major delivery contracts allow nation-wide processing to assured
standards.
15. For COPD, the first stage of the assessment
is screening spirometry which shows the extent of lung damage,
but not the cause, allowing risk and fast track offers to be made,
enabling claimants to leave th eprocess early. Alternatively it
prioritises claimants, allowing the eldest and most severely injured
to be seen first in the main Medical Assessment Process(MAP).
In this a respiratory specialist, aided by lung function test
results, medical records and a consultation with the claimant
(in live cases), diagnoses any diseases and assesses disability
due to COPD in 10% gradations, discounting co-morbidity (other
disabling conditions for which DTI is not liable). The medical
judgments involved require the use of specialists, they are not
ones GPs could make.
16. For VWF, a long standing injury scale
is used—though this is critically dependent upon the accurate
reporting of his symptoms by the claimant—with evidence
obtained by a combination of tests and an interview with a generalist
doctor. The "staging" of the disease on assessment is
then read across to agreed tariffs in the CHA.
17. The medial experts continue to provide
advice and expertise as members of the jointly appointed COPD
and VWF Services Medical Reference Panels.
RECORD COLLECTION
18. Iron Mountain (the company who have
custody of the former British Coal records) are responsible for
the collation of an agreed employment records pack and its dissemination
to IRISC and the claimants' solicitors. The collection of these
employment records has not been without difficulty as the existing
records retrieval system was not designed for large scale, speedy
retrieval. A further problem is missing employment records: some
local records were destroyed as the industry contracted. Those
records that survive can in some cases be incomplete, which can
affect the agreement of the employment history.
19. The Department has funded improvements
to the Iron Mountain database to allow for comprehensive searching
amongst the files that Iron Mountain hold. This has reduced the
number of no traces, thus making the establishment of employment
history easier.
20. The DTI introduced scanning of employment
records to move away from a paper based system to allow easier
storage, to lay foundations for electronic archives more fitting
for the 21st Century and to assist for any possible future claims
against the Department.
21. Electronic links between IRISC and Iron
Mountain enable electronic transfer of information between these
two key service providers. This reduces the amount of time needed
to transfer information and the possibility of losing files.
22. Atos Origin have sub-contracted to Elision
Group the task of collecting the medical records for individual
claimants. The records include both GP and hospital records, as
well as those held by the DWP and BCC medical records—although
hospital records are only collected if the GP records are not
available.
PROGRESS
23. With regard to COPD, nearly 576,000
claims have been fully registered to date. In the last six months
of the scheme over 250,000 claims (doubling the total number of
claims) were received, mostly from younger men with potentially
much lower levels of disability, and estate claims, where the
miner died many years ago and is therefore unlikely to have any
medical records. Nearly 183,000 claims have been settled and a
further 78,000 interim payments made. In total over £1.3
billion has been paid to COPD claimants.
24. As to VWF, 170,000 claims were received
prior to the cut-off date. Nearly 100,000 claims have been settled
and 97,000 interim payments made. In total nearly £1.1 billion
has been paid to VWF claimants. Copies of the national statistics
are attached at Annex G which show the current position of the
schemes and Annex H shows how much has been spent in the main
coal constituencies.
25. Levels of compensation vary greatly,
as shown in the statistics, but the average settlements are for
COPD £7,800 and for VWF general damages £7,400.
CONSTRAINTS
26. The CHAs are, as Sir Michael Turner
has previously stated, necessarily complex and the sheer scale
of the schemes is unprecedented. This has meant that there have
been a number of constraints in establishing and maintaining both
schemes.
27. Following the Court Judgments of 1997
and 1998 there was tremendous pressure to see that compensation
started to flow quickly to claimants, particularly those with
lung disease, many of whom were old and sick and some dying of
the disease. This meant that as soon as the structure and basic
details of the Agreements were settled, the process had to be
put into operation immediately. There wasn't time to pilot the
process. The Department has worked with both its service providers
and the CG to address issues as they arose and tried to ensure
that these delays to the flow of claims were kept to a minimum.
28. Sir Michael Turner has kept a close
watch on progress of the lung disease scheme and while concerned
about delays has commended the efforts of all those involved to
get the process going and noted that the complexities of the Scheme
and the thorough medical assessment were a necessary part of ensuring
that claimants get a fair deal.
29. Pressures to get money flowing out led
to several significant changes in the process early on. On COPD,
for example, the scope for expedited offers was extended—on
professional medical advice and on the basis of evidence from
cases that had already gone through. This successfully got compensation
of around £80 million paid in three months but also produced
difficulties with some claims which were half way through the
process.
30. In May 2000 the VWF Agreement was extended
to cover a further head of damages—Services. Damages are
paid as compensation for miners with VWF needing help with common
household work such as gardening, car maintenance and DIY. Their
eligibility for this is determined from a further medical and
questionnaires completed by helpers.
31. The volume of claims has been much higher
than anyone expected and this has led to problems in scaling up
the process. At the time of the lead case trial judgment there
were less than 5,000 VWF cases and the forecast total was around
40,000. On COPD, the figures were 30,000 and 70,000. These were
the best guess estimates of the CG and DTI. No one had any firm
basis for making these estimates—British Coal had estimated
their total liability very much lower (only £50 million was
included as a provision in their accounts). The outturn has been
very different (see National Statistics). As noted above, as at
February 2005 there are nearly 170,000 VWF claims registered and
576,000 claims for COPD.
32. Managing rapid change has been a feature
of both schemes. As claims began to increase significantly in
2000, plans were put in place by the DTI with its service providers
to ramp up resources to deal with this increase. This included
additional resources, enhancing existing systems and encouraging
the use of e-technology amongst claimants' solicitors.
33. The key constraint on the COPD process
has been the availability of Respiratory Specialists in the UK
that could be available to be trained in the Medical Assessment
Process ( MAP ). There are only 600 respiratory specialists in
the UK and around 200 are involved in the scheme. Service providers
have ramped up resources to deal with rapid flow through of claims.
IRISC for example increased claims handling resources on COPD
from 140 in 2000 to 532 by the end of 2003 to accommodate the
growth in claims. Due to the complexity of the work new members
of staff are required to go through a steep learning curve which
means it takes time to train individuals to the required standard.
The Department has always involved solicitors in projecting flow
through to ensure that claims are delayed as little as possible
at each stage. On both schemes we have organised workshops for
solicitors so that they knew what was happening on the schemes
and what to expect going forward.
34. On VWF, there have been two main constraints.
Earlier in the scheme, the provision of training records to confirm
occupation was slow and cumbersome but was speeded up largely
by the use of electronic data imaging between IRISC and Iron Mountain.
35. Latterly, it has become clear that the
remaining general damages claims have a high level of co-defendant
involvement (the claimant worked for mines other than British
Coal's); these claims are, by necessity, more complex to co-ordinate.
A programme of activity is currently underway at IRISC to ensure
the engagement of co-defendants in the process, particularly at
offer stage.
36. If those negotiating the CHAs had been
able to see the volumes which would be going through the processes,
it might have been that both sides would have recognised that
the complexity of the Agreements, while accurately reflecting
common law and the judgments (and thus giving every man his due)
was not suitable for what is effectively now an industrial process.
The complexity has slowed delivery. Simpler schemes that involved
more averaging would have been quicker in delivery, although less
fair to the individual.
37. The slow start up caused by the formulation
of the CHAs and the difficulties of resolving policy issues and
then putting change into operation, have meant that many thousands
of cases when they got to final assessment stage were held up
because a full and final offer could not be made. The rapid increase
in volumes of claims on COPD over a short period of time in 2000
meant that service providers and solicitors could not handle all
the cases in the time frames set out in the Handling Agreement.
It was agreed by the parties to suspend these timetables and a
whole cohort of claims—those for miners' estates other than
widows—were, with the agreement of the CG and the judge,
set aside so that live claims and widows' claims could be dealt
with first.
ELECTRONIC DELIVERY
38. When the parties were considering how
to put into operation the administration of the Schemes in mid
1999 web use was only just taking off. The CG believed that some
solicitors would have difficulty in adopting electronic technology.
39. From the beginning the Schemes had some
innovative e-business elements. Employment and medical records
were sent to IRISC and solicitors on CDs and there were internal
database links between the Service providers but, initially, solicitors
were not part of the web community.
40. E-solutions over the last three years
have significantly speeded up the process. Both Schemes have embraced
e-business and the Department's service providers and solicitors
have greatly expanded the e-business element of delivery. For
example, calculation models have been developed which have substantially
improved productivity by reducing the time taken for complex calculations
of special damages. These were shared with the solicitors on CD-Rom
and are now available on the website.
41. Significant investments in electronic
processes have included the DTI's claims handlers introducing
in 2002 an electronic document management system which saw 30
million pages of paper documents scanned into the system. All
work at IRISC is now handled exclusively via electronic means.
In addition, as noted above, the British Coal's employment record
archive was scanned, enabling copies to be circulated to both
claims handlers and solicitors much more efficiently and speedily.
42. In August 2000 DTI contracted with Healthcall
to develop a process by which, initially, certain databases could
be accessed and claims forms could be completed electronically
via the internet. The coalclaims.com website came on line at the
end of October 2000 and solicitors welcomed the system as a way
to speed up claims processing. The site was further developed
in July 2001 to include a case tracking system. The site was fully
revamped in September 2003 when the development and hosting contract
was re-tendered and awarded to Cable & Wireless. This is the
first e-claims website of its kind and is now used by over 2,000
individual users who represent some 60% of solicitors.
43. The website contains the Dust Calculator
(for apportioning damages), the Schedule 10 Calculator (for special
damages) and details of work history can be agreed over the web
and offers made. Claims handling teams can agree workflow of cases
with solicitors so that both sides are working on the same claims
to improve efficiency. Solicitors can use the website to provide
management information about their own caseload.
COMMUNICATIONS
44. DTI has monthly meetings with the CG
for each scheme on claims processing and policy issues, with ad
hoc meetings as necessary. Service providers attend on a regular
basis. IRISC have developed routine contacts with solicitors,
with Solicitor Liaison Managers employed to deal with the top
10 firms (who represent 80% of the total claims) on a regular
basis. The Department and the CG get quarterly reports on the
quality of the medical assessments from the service providers'
internal audits.
45. DTI produces a quarterly Compensation
for Miners Newsletter which provides information on the schemes,
progress to date, procedures etc and is circulated to GP surgeries,
Citizens Advice Bureaux, Members of Parliament and mining unions.
Ministers have also continued to write to interested MPs on a
regular basis to bring them up to speed.
46. In addition, in November 1999 Helen
Liddell, the then DTI Minister for Energy, established a Coal
Health Ministerial Monitoring Group. The National Group comprises
three members from each of England, Wales and Scotland with at
least one MP and union official from each. The CG, DTI officials
and service providers attend the Groups meetings.
47. The purpose of the Group is to monitor
the process "on the ground" and report back to the Minister
about problems. It meets 3-4 times per year. In addition Members
from the three national groups (England, Wales & Scotland)
also meet together in between National Group meetings to discuss
issues which are specific to their areas. Within England there
are further regional groups established which meet regularly to
discuss the specific impact of issues on their region.
48. To assist solicitors and claimants,
DTI set up helplines for assessment queries, apportionment questions
and for help with electronic forms.
49. The DTI has its own website with background
to the schemes, current issues and figures of payments made broken
down by constituency. It gets around 15,000 hits a month.
MONITORING THE
PROCESSES
50. The main risks to smooth delivery of
compensation have been problems and delays due to changes in policy
or process and operational risks between the service providers
and solicitors. CLU keep service providers' performance under
regular review and there are frequent meetings with them. There
is a regular programme of audit of service providers - systems,
processes, and disaster recovery arrangements. CLU keeps a comprehensive
risk register and its risk management processes have been commended
by the National Audit Office.
51. CLU has visited other public agencies
handling claims to see if we could learn any lessons from them
but no one is dealing with the handling of schemed litigated claims
or with anything on this scale.
FRAUD
52. There is an inherent risk within any
scheme of this size that there will be some fraud. In COPD the
medical assessment process is the main protection against fraud
and in VWF the employment requirement serves the same purpose.
About 10% of COPD claims and 20% of VWF claims are denied. The
unit and its service providers also have procedures and controls
in place for managing potentially fraudulent claims. There have
currently been 1,500 cases registered as potentially fraudulent—most
of them concerned with VWF services claims.
53. The Department has received requests
from solicitors and members of the Ministerial Monitoring Groups
to disclose the guidelines which our claims handlers use to identify
potentially fraudulent cases. These were intended as internal
documents and the VWF judge, Dame Janet Smith, has indicated that
she agrees it would be inappropriate to disclose them.
EFFICIENCY
54. Since the inception of the Schemes there
has been a continuous focus at the DTI and with IRISC its claims
handlers on efficiency improvements. Within DTI, for example,
a high-level secondee from Shell UK worked with CLU for a year
to restructure the CLU organisation and put in place improved
arrangements for managing the CLU processes in line with commercial
private sector practice for handling major projects. This work
resulted in CLU taking on secondees from PWC and latterly Deloitte
to provide professional input to project management, risk and
audit work and process improvement. In addition, major benefits
have been achieved at IRISC in terms of productivity improvement,
quality enhancement, effectiveness of communications, and assurance
levels. Overall we estimate that the measures taken improved efficiency
by around £100 million. This figure includes a saving of
around £40 million from the retendering of contracts and
a major contribution from the introduction of electronic calculators
for special damages.
55. Since 2002, IRISC have operated a Programme
Office to manage major efficiency improvement programmes. In addition,
both the VWF and COPD schemes have their own process improvement
teams specifically focused on enhancing efficiency in their respective
areas.
56. In addition to productivity improvements
there have also been additional benefits in terms of accuracy
and consistency. By allowing claimants' solicitors access to the
calculators, disputes over amounts offered have also been virtually
eliminated because solicitors are now able to check through the
calculation themselves. This is a highly unusual, but beneficial
feature of the claims handling work—it is not normal in
litigation cases for defendants and claimants to co-operate to
the extent of sharing systems.
57. Following the completion of the cut
off dates for VWF Services and Group 3 claims in March and June
of this year both schemes will be in "run-off" mode.
The management challenges then will be to process difficult "pockets"
of cases where the work resource required to complete each case
may be substantially different and greater than that at present.
To manage the run off effectively tight control of resources and
strong management information systems will be required in order
to set and control operational priorities.
58. To address the above management challenges,
IRISC embarked, during 2004, on a "World Class Programme"
with the overall objective of uplifting quality, service, and
cost efficiency to top rate standards. The "IRISC World Class
Programme" builds on the foundations and improvements already
put in place, and will deliver a significant step change in performance
to a "World Class level". In addition the programme
aims to deliver a review of the strategic options and practical
solutions to deliver the schemes within acceptable and realistic
timescales.
RECENT PROGRESS
59. Given the number of COPD claims received
prior to the cut-off date urgent and radical measures are required
to speed up the settlement of claims. The steps in hand are described
below in paragraphs 68-72.
60. The decision of key co-defendants, such
as UK Coal, and AGF (the insurer representing the interests of
small private mines) to sign up to the terms of the CHA is a welcome
step forward. Work is in hand to make the necessary adjustments
to the relevant calculators to accommodate these co-defendants
so that cases involving more than one employer can be fully discharged.
Cases involving small mines have already started to receive full
and final payments.
61. In relation to VWF, there has been recent
emphasis on progressing those general damages claims which have
been through the medical process but have not yet had an offer.
This broadly resulted at the end of last year in every such claim,
where practicable, either receiving an offer or an interim payment.
We have agreed cut-off dates with the claimants' solicitors for
those remaining heads of damage; these come into effect over the
course of this year. The Court has also endorsed a stalled claims
process which is aimed at flushing out or closing claims which
are no longer active. This is being put into operation at IRISC.
REMAINING ISSUES
62. A very small number of detailed COPD
policy issues remain under discussion between the parties. In
the great majority of cases, these issues do not prevent the offer
or settlement of claims.
63. The parties are at present in discussion
on the issue of minimum payments. The CG believe that claimants
whose claims are worth less than £500 following apportionment
should receive a top up payment to bring the claim to the value
of £500. They have offered to fund this, asking the DTI to
administer the payments on their behalf through IRISC. The DTI
is willing to administer the payments but believes the payment
mechanism should be sustainable, pointing to a need to fund the
payments from solicitors' core costs, rather than the CG's preferred
option of the "pot" of money available from forgoing
the RPI increase on solicitors' costs (which DTI believes may
be insufficient to meet requirements, in the first year of making
such payments). The CG are considering this.
64. Claims from men who worked only on the
surface in the mines were not covered by the COPD judgment which
dealt with underground work. Surface-only claims are therefore
outwith the scope of the scheme. Following a minute to Parliament
on this potential liability in June 2000, the Department and the
CG entered into negotiations on the possible inclusion in the
scheme of surface workers and did agree terms on which men who
had worked both underground and on the surface could be covered
by the scheme. It was not however possible to agree terms for
surface only workers and following a joint medical study, the
DTI made clear that it could not accept that payments for COPD
for surface workers could be schemed. The CG then initiated group
litigation against the DTI. That litigation was withdrawn in December
2004. The DTI is of course willing to consider individual cases
for surface dust compensation under a common law approach.
65. There are a small number of outstanding
VWF policy issues affecting a relatively small number of claimants.
On Services there are two main areas requiring resolution which
affect claims:
— Crossover—where a claimant
is entitled to a payment under both the COPD and VWF scheme and
the extent to which any such payment should be taken into account
and, if so, how that it to be calculated. A Court Hearing is scheduled
for 22-23 February to resolve this issue.
— Employment—where a claimant
is in employment which, at first sight, contra-indicates his claim
for services (eg someone employed as a painter seeking compensation
for help with decorating). The Department takes the view that
it cannot, uncritically, accept the claimant's account and will
seek clarification in relevant cases. The judge agrees that we
should make reasonable investigations.
66. The Department has not yet agreed solicitors'
costs in respect of services claims and a practical pilot is underway
to evaluate this, looking at costs in a sample of cases.
67. On Group 3 (where claimants have to
provide evidence of use of vibrating tools), there is an issue
between the Department and the CG as to the extent to which apprentices
and trainees should be routinely accepted into the scheme. An
agreement is required as to the amount of time and usage of hand-held
vibrating tools that such miners would be exposed to. It has been
agreed that this issue should be referred to the Vibration Reference
Panel, the jointly appointed advisory panel, for guidance.
68. There remains an issue about the qualifying
criteria for Group 3 claimants and whether a solution can be found
which would put them on a broadly equivalent footing to the criteria
used for Group 1 and 2 claimants where the job done indicated
sufficient exposure. The Department has made a proposal to the
CG in this regard.
ASPIRATIONAL SCHEME
END DATES
(ASEDS)
69. COPD—Following the large influx
of claims into the COPD scheme up to end March 2004, it was clear
that at current rates of progress, the COPD scheme would extend
up to 2009 for live claimants, and 2011 for deceased claims. The
Judge overseeing the scheme, the DTI and the CG all regarded this
timescale as unacceptable. As a result, the parties entered into
negotiations on ways to speed up the settlement of claims. In
mid-October, the Judge approved new optional risk offers for 4
categories of live claimants, based on spirometry results. The
idea behind the payments is that these claimants (who, for the
most part, are not disabled, but who may have suffered from chronic
bronchitis, which is a non-disabling condition) will have the
option to take a risk payment based on the average for their spirometry
category and leave the scheme. Those who do not wish to take the
payment retain the right to a full medical assessment.
70. The payments will apply to over three
quarters of remaining live claimants and will help to free resource
in the MAP to deal with more seriously disabled cases. The risk
offers will go live on 28 February. The risk offers fall into
four bands but the amounts payable under each band are currently
being contested by the CG. The rates currently on the table are
£1,400 for those with normal lung function at screening spirometry
and for those whose tests were avoidably unreliable; and £3,700
for those with a ratio failure; and £12,900 for those with
failed reversibility.
71. The Judge has also ruled that risk offers
of £1000 to estates and £1200 to widows respectively
should be paid for deceased claims where there is no evidence
on the death certificate of COPD. Such cases are likely to recover
damages for CB only at MAP. Again, this approach will help to
free medical resource to give a detailed assessment to the more
disabled cases where recovery of damages for COPD is more likely.
The parties are in discussion on how best to put into operation
the risk offers for deceased cases.
72. The parties believe that, dependent
on take-up, the risk offers should bring forward the end dates
for the COPD scheme to around 2007 for live claims and 2009 for
deceased claims.
73. The judge has made rulings on solicitors
costs with which we do not agree and the Department will be appealing
the judgment on this issue.
74. The Department has put in place a number
of aspirational end dates for the VWF scheme. The first, the making
of general damages offers, where practicable, to all claimants
who have undergone their medical assessment, was achieved at the
end of 2004.
75. The other aspirational dates are as
follows:
— all general damages claims settled
by end quarter 3 2005, subject to co-defendant cooperation;
— finish Services MAPs by end 2006;
— settle all Services claims by end
2007; and
— complete investigation of Group 3
claims by end quarter 3 2005.
CONCLUSION
76. The Department assumed the coal health
liabilities in 1998. The COPD judgment was handed down only a
few weeks later and the framework of negotiating handling agreements
with the CG and operating under the supervision of the judges
was quickly established. Nothing of this size and complexity had
ever been done before. Throughout the negotiation and operationalisation
of the CHAs there have been many delays, most of which were unforeseen,
and the Department has worked hard in conjunction with its service
providers to limit their impact and ensure that compensation was
paid as speedily and as fairly as possible.
77. It should not be forgotten that the
schemes have seen to date nearly half a million individual payments
made to former miners, and their families, totalling nearly £2.5
billion.
Annex C
REPORT TO
COURT—JANUARY
2005
Department of Trade and Industry
Overview
Section I below sets out the headline statistics
for progress since the last Report in October 2004 and the key
points contained within the Report.
Section II covers the main issues that have
emerged since the last Report including the risk offer proposals
intended to shorten the life of the scheme, spirometry, proactive
management of stalled claims, surface dust litigation, post cut
off date claims, smoking history protocol, the CG's minimum payment
proposal, unassessable claims, COPD VWF services claims, co-defendants,
and fraud management.
SECTION I—KEY POINTS—HEADLINE STATISTICS
As at 9 January 2005, 322,232 claim packs have
been received, up 16% since the last Report.
As at 9 January 2005, total post MAP offers
stood at 179,827. This is up 13% since September 2004. Capita
met its target for 2004 of making 70,000 offers over the 12 month
period. 178,132 claims have been settled since September 2004,
up 15%. This figure increases to 195,352 if archived and denied
claims are included. As at 9 January 2005, 39% of live mineworker
claims had been settled, 43% of widows' claims and 18% of estate
claims - reflecting the late influx of estate claims prior to
the cut off date.
As at 9 January 2005, total fully registered
claims capable of progressing through the scheme stood at 575,222.
43% of these are live claims, 14% are widows claims and 42% estate
claims. A further 29,500 claims are held pending the supply of
further information to progress them, examples being date of birth,
NI number, full name and address. As at 9 January 2005, total
post MAP offers stood at 179,827 up 13% since September 2004.
Capita met the target for 2004 of making 70,000 offers over the
year. 178,132 claims have been settled. This is up 15% since September
2004. This increases to 34% if archived and denied claims are
also included.
There continues to be a steady increase in denials
up 39% since the last Report. This is thought to be primarily
due to the profile of claims now within the scheme where increasing
numbers of claims relate to older deceased mineworkers who may
have an invalid claim due to no BC work history after the date
of guilty knowledge; insufficient evidence supplied via the CQ
or available records in deceased cases to establish COPD/CB.
Throughput and proposals to shorten the duration
of the scheme
As recorded in the last Report the Department,
its contractors and the Claimants Group (CG) have been in discussions
about how to manage the large volume of claims now in the scheme.
On 22 September 2004, Sir Michael Turner was updated on these
discussions at a workshop. These were worked up into proposals
for shortening the scheme and special Hearings took place in October,
November and December regarding these proposals. Sir Michael Turner
ruled on 22 October 2004 that optional risk offers will be introduced,
pre MAP, for surviving mineworkers with certain spirometry results,
and at tariffs that reflect likely settlements under the scheme.
The process is due to become operational at the end of February
2005.
Sir Michael Turner ruled on 22 December 2004
that optional risk offers will be introduced pre-MAP for deceased
cases. The implementation of the deceased risk offer process is
to be discussed between the parties, who will report back at the
Review Hearing. Capita intend to work closely with Claimants'
Representatives (CRs) to ensure that the new processes are implemented
with a minimum of disruption.
SECTION II—MAIN ISSUES—RISK OFFERS
All parties are agreed that given the volume
of claims now in the scheme, the majority of which were submitted
in its closing months, it is imperative that ways are found to
expedite the flow of claims to settlement. To this end a number
of meetings have been held between the parties to consider ways
of expediting the process. These have culminated in a series of
Court Hearings in October, November and December.
LIVE RISK
OFFERS—OVERVIEW
Sir Michael Turner has ruled that optional risk
offers will be introduced pre MAP for surviving mineworkers with
the following spirometry results.
— Ratio failure (excluding where the
RS's review did change the result).
— Failed reversibility (excluding where
the RS's review did change the result).
Sir Michael also ruled on the principles upon
which the tariffs for the various categories should be calculated.
Those calculations have been made and the results audited by Ernst
& Young - see Annex 5. The tariffs applicable to the categories
are shown below:
| FEV1 >90
| £1,400 |
| Avoidably unreliable |
£1,400 |
| Ratio failure | £3,700
|
| Failed reversibility |
£12,900 |
| |
Offers will be made after spirometry but before MAP appointment.
Claimants currently categorised subsequent to their spirometry
test as: FEV1 >90, avoidably unreliable, failed reversibility
and ratio failure, and who have a MAP appointment after 28 February
2005 (the implementation date for the new process), will need
to cancel the appointment to become eligible for the risk offer.
Claimants who have less than seven days before their MAP appointment
will NOT be eligible for a risk offer on canceling their MAP.
This measure is to avoid undue disruptions to the medical process.
The risk offer, once made, will remain open for 56 days, after
which time, if the offer has not been properly accepted, the claim
will proceed through the normal claims handling process.
DECEASED RISK
OFFERS—OVERVIEW
It has been agreed that there will also be a risk offer approach
in deceased cases where there is no mention of COPD on the death
certificate that would be attractive to claimants who might otherwise
be likely to receive CB only awards under the scheme, ie claims
where few or no medical records are likely to be available and
where there is no available evidence of COPD. Tariffs of £1,000
in estate cases and £1,200 in widows cases were accepted
by the Court, these are based on average awards in the scheme
to date for CB only, with the addition of an uplift as an encouragement
towards wider take up.
Claimants will opt in to the risk offer via a formal acceptance
prior to the MAP being dispatched to Capita. Detailed discussions
are being held with the CG about how this proposal will be implemented
and the parties will report back at the Hearing.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
The success of the risk offer process is dependent on effective
communication with claimants and CRs. The DTI had proposed regional
workshops with CRs to discuss Sir Michael's rulings and facilitate
discussion regarding the operational detail of the process, however
these workshops have been declined by the CG on the basis that
they do not believe these would aid planning. One to one meetings
with the top 12 CRs to discuss suitable volumes of risk offers
on an individual basis have also been declined by the CG.
In the absence of such discussions a guide will be made available
explaining in detail the operation processes involved for live
and deceased risk offers. The guide will outline key aspects of
the risk offer process; claim eligibility criteria; managing the
live risk offer once it has been "opened"; solicitor
communication and agreed cut off rules. It is important that this
message is imparted to CRs as soon as possible to minimise unnecessary
disruption to the normal scheme process which could follow from
any misunderstanding of the operational details or claimant eligibility
for risk offers.
Information about the risk offers will also be provided in
a DTI newsletter (which is distributed to GP surgeries, Citizen
Advice Bureaux, unions, the CG and MPs).
RISK OFFER—VOLUMES
AND CAPACITY
In the absence of specific details about the capacity of
individual firms to handle volumes of risk offers, as detailed
above, the Department has accepted the CG proposal that it allocates
capacity on the basis of a percentage of the number of CRs eligible
claims at December 2004. Capita plan to make an average of 2,000
live risk offers per week with a view to make all live risk offers
within one year of the first offers being issued. Initially offer
rates will be 10% of this figure and will gradually ramp up to
maximum capacity over eight weeks.
At these levels the average volume of live risk offers likely
to be received by the top 20 CRs based on their eligible claims
is shown below.
|
| Solicitor | Average weekly no. of risk offers
|
| Beresfords Solicitors | 402
|
| Union of Democratic Mineworkers | To be confirmed
|
| Raleys Solicitors | 141 |
| Browell Smith & Co | 136
|
| Hugh James, Merthyr Tydfil | 99
|
| Watson Burton | 91 |
| Graysons Solicitors, Sheffield | 81
|
| Thompsons Solicitors, Newcastle upon Tyne |
73 |
| Avalon Solicitors | 58 |
| Barber & Co | 53 |
| Delta Legal | 38 |
| Gorman Hamilton Solicitors | 36
|
| Thompsons Solicitors, Cardiff | 36
|
| The Legal Warehouse | 34 |
| AMS Law | 32 |
| Thompsons Solicitors, Edinburgh | 31
|
| Corries Solicitors, York | 29
|
| Corries Solicitors, Glasgow | 26
|
| Randell Lloyd Jenkins & Martin | 24
|
| Kidd & Spoor Harper Solicitors | 21
|
|
| |
Further details are contained in
Annex 6.
As an opt in process volumes of deceased risk offers will
be driven in their entirety by the activity of CRs. Timescales
will be dependent upon firstly, keeping operational processes
simple and secondly, information from the CG and other CRs on
likely volumes, time estimates and dependencies to accurately
timetable resource requirements. As indicated by Counsel for the
CG at the Court Hearing on 16 November 2004 the CG are confident
that solicitors will be able to cope with dealing with risk offers.
RISK OFFERS
AND INTERACTION
WITH EXISTING
PROCESS
At the Hearing on 3 December 2004 the Department raised its
concerns about cancellation of cases pre MAP by CRs. Some 960
appointments have been cancelled or refused since 11 November
2004 however Atos Origin have managed to maintain throughput by
making extra efforts to re-fill cancelled slots with other claimants.
MAP cancellations will continue to be monitored and a further
report will be provided at the next Hearing. Once the Risk Offer
process goes live it is anticipated that MAP throughput will be
dramatically reduced as up to 90% of living claimants ready for
a MAP appointment will be placed "on hold" until such
time as they have received and considered their risk offer.
RISK OFFERS
AND SOLICITORS
COSTS
At the Hearing on 18 November Sir Michael ruled on the solicitors
costs that will apply where live claimant risk offers are accepted.
The Department indicated via Counsel at that Hearing that it may
wish to appeal that decision. Sir Michael agreed that the time
for seeking leave to appeal should run from the date of his ruling
on solicitors' costs on deceased risk offers.
MONITORING RISK
OFFERS AND
THROUGHPUT—REVIEW
OF MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION
Given the radical overhauling of the scheme to take account
of the volume of claims now within it, it would seem appropriate
to review the statistics produced to monitor the traditional elements
of the scheme, and to commission new statistical reports to monitor
the production and take-up of risk offers.
The Department has undertaken such a review over the last
several months and an update Progress Report has been produced,
see Annex 7, which is intended to replace all the statistics normally
provided in the standard Progress Report, as well as the statistics
normally provided in the Court Report itself, in the one document.
Additional statistics to track the new Optional Risk Offers will
be added in the coming weeks. Some preliminary formats which indicate
the type of data which is likely to be included in future reports
is shown below.
TRADITIONAL SCHEME
PROCESS AND
ISSUES
Annexes 1 and 2 show the activity in the scheme as at the
last four Hearings and by month over the last year of the scheme.
As stated above, as at 9 January 2005, total fully registered
claims capable of progressing through the scheme stood at 575,222
43% are live claims, 14% widows claims and 42% estate claims.
A further 29,500 claims are held pending the supply of further
information to progress them, for example date of birth, NI number,
full name and address.
As at 9 January 2005, 322,232 claim packs have been received,
up 16% since the last Report.
As at 9 January 2005, total post MAP offers stood at 179,827.
This is up 13% since September 2004. Capita met its target for
2004 of making 70,000 offers over the 12 month period. 178,132
claims have been settled since September 2004, up 15%. This figure
increases to 195,352 if archived and denied claims are included.
As at 9 January 2005, 39% of live mineworker claims had been settled,
43 percent of widows' claims and 18% of estate claims—reflecting
the late influx of estate claims prior to the cut off date.
Annex 3 illustrates that the percentage of claimants with
COPD disability at MAP is currently 18.3% down from 34 recorded
for MAPs completed in January to March 2002. Average COPD disability
levels are 19.9 up slightly from 19.4 in the period July to September
04.
SPIROMETRY
Annex 4 reflects claims that have not yet progressed to Atos
Origin. At the end of December 2004 42,000 claims not yet at Atos
Origin were currently awaiting a spirometry test. Atos Origin
carry out an average of 1,346 tests per week and are on target
to have tested the majority of claimants available to test by
the end of March 2005. The average is based on the three months
between weeks ending 2 October and 25 December 2005. This period
also accounts for the holiday season, which naturally sees fewer
claimants tested. There will of course be a number of cases which
for one reason or another cannot be tested in this timescale.
The DTI will be discussing with Atos Origin in the coming months
how to make arrangements for the testing of these claimants.
PROACTIVE MANAGEMENT
OF STALLED
CLAIMS
The end to end archiving procedures discussed in previous
reports are now in operation. In a modification to the process
put before the Court in the July 2004 Report the new procedures
will only be introduced for claims which are not eligible for
risk offers. This is to reduce nugatory work archiving claims
that may exit the process as a result of acceptance of a risk
offer.
The archiving protocol operates where information or action
is awaited to move a claim forward and where the claim would not
otherwise be subject to a live or deceased risk offer. This supplements
existing archiving processes where an expedited offer has been
made post spirometry but a statement of truth is awaited, and
where the claimant has persistently failed to respond to an offer
of a spirometry appointment.
ARCHIVING PROCEDURES
Notice of the intention to archive will be given in each
case to be archived. At the relevant point of entry into the archiving
procedure, a letter will be sent to the CR advising them that
the claim, or schedule of claims will be archived in six months
unless a substantive response is received. Five months later a
reminder letter will be issued giving 28 days notice for a response
before the claim is archived. Six months after the point of entry
into the archiving procedure a letter to the CR will confirm that
the file has been archived.
Where a substantive response is received, then the claim
will be removed from the archiving procedure. If the claim again
becomes stalled at a later date then the claim will start the
archiving procedure afresh.
The timescales at which claims enter the archiving procedure
will be as follows:
|
| Stage | Entry point to archiving procedure
|
|
| Denied claims | Three months after the denial letter was dispatched or claim withdrawn
|
Failure to provide a Substantive Response
to Capita or Atos Origin
| Six months after the query has been raised.
|
|
| |
Once a claim is archived, Capita will no longer review or
process the claim unless a response is received from the CR enabling
the claim to progress. Should the claimant wish to re-enter the
claims assessment process, he may do so at any time until the
claim is struck out. However, if a claim has been denied within
the last 12 months and evidence is received in support of disputing
the denial this will be taken through either the general or medical
disputes procedure as appropriate. Those denials over 12 months
old will be considered on a case by case basis. As reported previously
in a number of cases CRs have attempted to reactivate withdrawn
claims. These claims have not been accepted back in to the scheme.
Claimants may reactivate archived claims at any time up to
the point of strike out should a strike out procedure be approved
by the Court.
STRIKING OUT
OF ARCHIVED
CLAIMS
As agreed at the last Hearing, the parties have set out their
positions by way of Skeleton Argument. The Department's application
to hear arguments on Strike Out was to be heard at the January
Hearing. However given the number of issues to be considered at
this Hearing the Department proposes that this application be
postponed until the following Hearing.
SURFACE DUST
Following the Hearing on 17 November 2004, the CG have given
written notice to the Department to the effect that the Group
Litigation will not now proceed. They have, however, indicated
that proceedings may be commenced in a number of individual claims
and it would seem appropriate for all other pure surface work
cases to be withdrawn by CRs.
The Department believes that the case management conference
listed for 28 February is no longer required as a result of the
developments above.
POST CUT-OFF
DATE CLAIMS
AND THE
STAY
It was agreed at the July 2004 Hearing that the retention
of the stay should be considered at each future Hearing. The Department
believes that the retention of the stay has provided a significant
disincentive to the filing of post cut off claims in England and
Wales. The Department believes the stay should continue to be
retained to prevent "queue jumping" in view of the very
significant numbers of schemed claims received before its closure.
No further litigated claims have been received since the two claims
reported at the October 2004 Hearing.
To date, 247 late scheme claims have been received, as shown
below.
|
| Month | Late scheme claims
|
|
| April | 91 |
| May | 32 |
| June | 27 |
| July | 43 |
| August | 12 |
| September | 9 |
| October | 13 |
| November | 19 |
| December | 1 |
| Total: | 247 |
|
| |
SMOKING HISTORY
PROTOCOL
In the last report to the court it was explained that detailed
planning was taking place for the implementation of the agreed
Smoking History Protocol. Implementation plans were agreed and
the protocol is now being implemented.
MINIMUM PAYMENT
The CG have proposed that CRs fund a minimum post MAP offer
to cover all future post MAP low value offers and currently outstanding
low value offers. The value of the minimum offer proposed is £500.
The Department has accepted this offer in principle but has rejected
the proposed method of funding (from half of the RPI uplift to
CR costs in 2005-06). The Department is concerned that the method
proposed is unlikely to raise sufficient to cover the top-up payments
required in 2005-06 for new offers and outstanding low value offers
from previous years. As at 31 December 2004 there were 9,000 low
value offers outstanding, 7,500 of which relate to claims with
CSG members. It is estimated that over £2.25 millionh would
be required to make a minimum payment of £500 in these cases.
This in itself is likely to exhaust the 50% RPI uplift fund proposed.
As part of their proposal the CG also wish to introduce additional
process to check for a minimum five year period of underground
employment before a top up offer is made. The Department rejects
this requirement which would slow down offer production at a time
when considerable resource is being devoted to speed up processing.
Low value offers can arise for several reasons under the
CHA, low levels of disability or no disability suffered by the
miner, short periods of time working for British Coal after the
agreed date of "guilty knowledge", and the reduction
of damages for factors such as smoking and other disabling conditions
for which British Coal were not found liable. The Department has
made clear that public money will not be used to fund a minimum
payment.
UNASSESSABLE CLAIMS
There are currently a number of claims within the scheme
which RS's consider to be unassessable. Further scrutiny of these
claims and discussions with the CG are planned to clarify the
circumstances where a claim is to be formally considered unassessable
and how that decision is ultimately made. The Department will
report back at the next Hearing on these discussions.
COPD/VWF SERVICES CLAIMS
At the last COPD Review Hearing, directions were put in place
by Sir Michael Turner for the determination of the issues in dispute.
The timetable culminates in a two day Hearing listed for 22 February
2005 and 23 February 2005 to be heard before both Lady Justice
Smith and Sir Michael Turner. The Hearing will proceed if agreement
cannot be reached between the parties prior to that date.
CO -DEFENDANTS
Small Mines
Small mines claims have now entered the operational stage.
Full and final offers commenced calculation in October 2004. There
remains a cohort of claims which will be held up pending agreement
on pension loss issues and amendment to the model. Work has begun
on tackling these issues.
Successor Companies
Having examined UK Coal's proposals for accession to the
Claims Handling Agreement in detail, the Department announced
to the court on 3 December 2004 and subsequently confirmed in
writing that it was content to proceed on this basis.
FRAUD MANAGEMENT
The Department has continued to develop its approach to potentially
fraudulent claims under both schemes. The following statistics
provide an overview of the position to date:
Since May 2002, 1,470 potentially suspicious cases have been
referred for additional investigation. These claims have a total
potential claim value of £21.3 million. Approximately 60
new cases are referred each month directly from Operations. The
majority of cases still relate to VWF Services, but since the
COPD cut-off date the number of COPD claims being referred has
increased dramatically, currently 33% of all referrals are related
to COPD claims.
Of the 1,470 referrals, 737 are currently under investigation
and 773 have had their investigations completed. Of those that
have had investigations completed, 132 claims have been denied
and 86 claims have been reduced, with a total value of £2.6
million.
The remaining claims were returned for processing once it
was confirmed that there was no fraudulent activity, a claim was
valid within the remit of the schemes, or any anomalies were clarified.
Process streamlining and improvements are continuing to be introduced
to minimise any unnecessary delay to valid claims.
Where the Department is unable to complete its investigations
(for example, where a witness or a claimant declines to be interviewed),
then such cases are held in abeyance until such time as the Department's
concerns are either confirmed or allayed. Currently in excess
of 34 claims are in abeyance;
Various solicitors have been written to, addressing issues
of professional conduct rather than fraud per se, eg intimating
duplicate claims. Where appropriate, the Law Society is being
included in this correspondence, with whom a working relationship
has developed;
The Department and the SID are providing a quarterly update
to the CG on potentially fraudulent claims.
Annex D
THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
NEWCASTLE DISTRICT REGISTRY
BETWEEN:A B AND OTHERS
Claimant
and BRITISH COAL CORPORATION (Department of Trade and Industry)
First Defendant
and THYSSEN (GB) LIMITED HOLLYBANK ENGINEERING LIMITED CEMENTATION
MINING LIMITED
Second Defendants
REPORT OF THE FIRST DEFENDANT AT HEARING ON 20 DECEMBER 2004 THE
POSITION AS
BETWEEN THE
DEPARTMENT AND
THE CSG
1. The Department would, in particular, wish to raise with
the Court the following issues between the Department and the
CSG;
(a) Application of cut off dates for submission of evidence
in Services, Group 3 and Wage Loss claims (see paragraph 9);
(b) Definition of "Significant period" in Group
3 claims (see paragraph 16);
(c) Warnings in Group 3 claims (see paragraph 17);
(d) Employment issues in Services claims (see paragraph
19);
(e) Stalled claims (see paragraph 22);
PROGRESS ON
CLAIMS
Statistics
2. At Appendix A to this Report is a summary of the headline
statistics relating to the processing of claims under the Scheme.
The Court will note that to the end of November £1.041 billion
has been paid to claimants by way of compensation.
3. At the date of closure of the Scheme the total number
of claims is 169,601. Approximately 13% of claims are made on
behalf of deceased mineworkers' estates. This number takes no
account of Public Liability claims, which are outside of the Scheme.
Offers
4. The focus since the last hearing continues to be on
those claims which have medical evidence but no offer (or are
subject to the posthumous protocol) "the priority pools".
These claims continue to be proactively reviewed by IRISC with
the intention of a full and final offer being made, or a 100%
interim being made, or the claim entering the Stalled Claims Procedure.
At the last hearing there were 14,652 claims in this category
and as at 28 November there were 11,350. The Department remains
optimistic that it will meet the aspiration that all Claimants,
whose claims are ready for offer (whether final, or in co-defended
cases, interim) will receive an offer by the end of the year.
5. The CSG has expressed concern at this approach, claiming
that correspondence which does not relate to the priority pools
is not receiving prompt response. This concern is understood but
the Department takes the view that claims ready for offer should
take priority. Correspondence which raises matters of urgency,
such as that relating to claimants with short life expectancy,
is dealt with promptly. Other, less urgent, letters will be dealt
with as expeditiously as possible.
Services
6. There are currently 11 Services MAP centres in operation;
two in Scotland, two in Wales and seven in England. In the new
year two further centres are already planned (one in Scotland
and one in England) as part of efforts to increase the number
of services MAP reports.
7. The numbers of claims and their current position in
the process are shown below.
8. There are only a few remaining areas of disagreement
between the Department and the CSG; these are referred to below.
The focus is now on operational delivery and the achievement of
the ASEDs. The aspiration was to complete all Services medicals
by the end of 2006, however based on current volume the Department
estimates that target is almost six months behind schedule. The
Department is considering a number of options and initiatives
with its service providers to see what might be done to rectify
the position. The Department will report to the Court on the next
occasion in this regard.
CUT-OFF
DATES FOR
SERVICES, GROUP
3 AND WAGE
LOSS CLAIMS
9. As the Court will be aware, an Order (Appendix B)
was made at the last Court hearing on 30 July 2004, providing
for cut off dates for submission of evidence by Claimants' representatives
in Services, Group 3 and Wage Loss claims.
10. The CSG has suggested to the Department that the
cut off dates, set out in the Order referred to above, do not
apply to cases involving co-defendants where occupation group
is still to be confirmed. The Department is of the view that these
cut off dates apply irrespective of any co-defendant involvement
in a case. IRISC will confirm occupation group for the Department
as soon as it can, irrespective of any co-defendant involvement.
11. Any Claimant must know whether he intends to advance
a loss of earnings and/or services claim against the Department
when he receives his General Damages MAP Report, or confirmation
of occupation group. Any such claim against the Department should
be made within the time period set out in the Order, irrespective
of the co-defendant confirming employment, or whether that co-defendant
is willing to accept any liability. In any event many co-defendants
still do not accept the CHA occupation groups.
12. Furthermore, the Department does not accept that
any delay on the part of a co-defendant in accepting liability
has any effect upon the Claimant's claim for loss of earnings/services
against the Department. This is particularly the case as, at the
present time, no party other than the Department subscribes to
the Services Agreement and Loss of Earnings and Associated Losses
Protocol under which such claims are brought.
GROUP 3 CLAIMS
13. This cohort of claims remains contentious and at
the forefront of the Department and CSG's attention.
14. To date, 23 claims have been raised with IRISC as
being suitable for reference to the Vibration Reference Panel
(VRP). Of these, two claims have been deemed as unsuitable for
referral to the VRP as they related to issues with the calculator
rather than of mining sense. Upon further investigation, a further
two claims were accepted thereby rendering referral unnecessary.
The Special Investigations Department (see paragraph 32) is investigating
one of the claims and six are in the process of being prepared
for sending to the VRP. In the remaining 12 cases the VRP has
reported to the parties, and in all of the cases the VRP's recommendations
as to the Claimant's likely tool usage have been accepted by the
Department (and apparently not contested by the Claimant). This
has resulted in liability being accepted in five cases and the
denial being maintained in seven.
15. Over 7,200 Group 3 claim investigations have been
completed. Of these, approximately 750 have been accepted as Group
3 with exposure, 3,600 remain denied as Group 3 claims and 2,800
have been accepted as Group 1 or 2 claims upon further investigation.
The following pie chart shows the number of claims to be investigated
and the number of claims where the contested claim does not comply
with the OGP and is awaiting action from the solicitor. The Department
remains confident that all current contested Group 3 claims, where
evidence has been submitted, will have been assessed by the end
of September 2005.
Definition of "significant period"
16. Having regard to the judgment following the hearing
on 29/30 July 2004 the Department reviewed the documents leading
up to the agreement of the CHA which included a number of drafts
of the CHA and correspondence between the interested parties with
a view to forming an informed conclusion as to how the qualifying
periods of employment for Group 1 and Group 2 Claimants (12 months
and 24 months) were arrived at and agreed upon. This exercise
confirmed the belief that these periods were not fixed on any
scientific basis and were not extrapolated from Table 5 of BS:6842.
In order to give effect to the Court's indication that the qualifying
criteria for Group 3 Claimants should be fixed so as to create
a broad equivalence of treatment between them and Group 1 and
Group 2 Claimants the Department endeavoured to assess the tool
usage of typical employees in those Groups, and to extrapolate
from those typical exposures periods by reference to Table 5.
This analysis was then used to fix proposed qualifying criteria
for Group 3 Claimants. These proposals have been put to the CSG
with an explanation of the underlying methodology. The Department
believes that its proposal does justice as between the parties
and achieves in so far as is possible, the broad equivalence of
treatment as between occupation groups that the Court desired.
The CSG is considering the Department's proposal.
Warnings
17. Notwithstanding the Court's judgment the Department
has received representations from the CSG that cases that proceed
solely on the basis of warnings (with no qualifying period of
exposure) should be dealt with within the Disputes Procedure of
the CHA. The Department is firmly opposed to that proposal. The
difficulties identified by the Court in its judgment would still
remain. The Minister has recently received representations on
this issue and the Court will be updated at the hearing.
Apprentices and Trainees
18. This remains an issue between the Department and
the CSG. It has been agreed that it should be the subject of a
reference to the VRP.
EMPLOYMENT ISSUES
IN SERVICES
CLAIM
19. This issue was raised in the Department's last Report
to the Court at paragraph 36 (Appendix C). It is the Department's
position that it is entitled to question a Claimant about his
employment history in relation to his Services claim, as it cannot
simply accept uncritically a Claimant's account. The Department
also contends that it is entitled to seek disclosure of documentary
evidence such as the Claimant's employment records, in appropriate
cases.
20. The Department had intended to make an application
for specific disclosure in one case in order to obtain guidance
and clarification from the Court on this issue. However, that
Claimant's solicitors have recently agreed to provide this disclosure
voluntarily by means of a signed authority from their Client.
21. The Court is referred to paragraph 37 from the Department's
last Court Report on the Services Matrix. In light of the comments
made by the MRP in relation to the Employment Matrix and the subsequent
comments received from the CSG, the Department intends to instruct
IRISC to assess each case on its merits (where there is an issue
of employment that may contraindicate the Claimant's claim for
services) and to base its initial judgement on the medical evidence
guidance as opposed to the Employment Matrix. This guidance will
be based upon already agreed medical descriptions of the relevant
staging. Accordingly where IRISC identifies an employment that
may contraindicate the claim for services, it will first carry
out a desktop investigation and may then ask for further evidence
from the Claimant. In some cases it will be appropriate to ask
the Claimant to provide a signed Form of Authority for release
of his personnel and/or medical records. The Court is requested
to endorse the Department's position and proposals in this regard.
STALLED CLAIMS
22. The Stalled Claims Procedure was instituted on 1
October 2004. Since then 3,611 letters have been sent to solicitors
under Stage 1 of the procedure. This is a larger number than it
is anticipated will be sent in future because the process has
only just started in earnest and there was a backlog of claims
to which the new process applied. Representations have been made
by Claimants' representatives concerning the lead-in time (90
days in most cases) for specific categories of claims and a proposal
has recently been made to the CSG which the Department believes
will go some way to reduce the volumes of letters presently being
sent to Claimants representatives. Services claims are presently
excluded from the Stalled Claims Procedure. A copy of the Department's
Stalled Claims Procedure is attached as Appendix D.
23. The Department is disappointed that some Claimants
representatives have failed to co-operate at all with the process,
taking the view that it has not been agreed by the CSG nor approved
by the Court. The Department views this as unhelpful. The Department's
last Court Report outlined the stages of the Stalled Claims Procedure
and the timescales which were to be applied. There was discussion
about the merits of the proposal and there were no substantive
disagreements with the CSG save on one issue on limitation on
which it made representations at the hearing. See the transcript
from the last hearing at Appendix E pages 8 to 10 and 47 to 50.
24. The Department has, in any event, agreed that the
Stalled Claims Procedure should include a facility for Claimants
representatives to be able to request extensions of time. These
are viewed sympathetically by IRISC on an individual basis, depending
on the reasons given. In addition, IRISC sends out lists to Claimants
representatives each month of those claims in which the first
letter has been sent; this allows Claimants representatives to
check that correspondence has not slipped through the net or been
misfiled.
25. Although apparently agreeing in principle to the
Stalled Claims Procedure the CSG has raised a variety of criticisms
of it which the Department is unable to accept. For example the
CSG complains that the procedure has been implemented without
appropriate desk instructions or training of claims handlers and
that claims have been "inappropriately" placed within
the Stalled Claims Procedure. The former criticism is incorrect.
The Department is prepared to accept that there may have been
mistakes made in a small number of individual cases and continues
to work with its services providers to minimise the incidence
of the same. Individual Claimants representatives have been critical
of the operation of the procedure but investigation of those criticisms
usually reveals that they have either not understood or misinterpreted
the procedure.
OTHER ISSUES
Loss of Earnings and Associated Losses Protocol (Wage Loss)
26. The number of claims and their current position in
the process is shown below.
27. The Department continues to consider claims in line
with the Protocol.
28. The Department is continuing to provide counter schedules
of loss in individual cases, which incorporate requests for further
information where such information is necessary in the Department's
investigation and assessment of a claim.
29. A meeting between the Department and the CSG will
take place in the New Year to discuss these claims and the Department's
general approach.
Amended CHA
30. The CSG in its letter of 5 November 2004 provided
its comments on the most recent version of the CHA which had been
sent to the CSG on 20 April 2004. This version of the CHA was
forwarded to the Court on 13 July 2004. The proposed amendments
suggested by the CSG have been considered and a revised draft
was sent to the CSG on 10 December 2004. It is hoped that this
version of the CHA will be agreed between the parties (subject
to a small number of sections in the CHA that are not agreed and
are put into square brackets so that they are easily identified).
The revised draft of the CHA will be added to the Coal Claims
Website and will be sent to the Court and the co-defendants.
Fraud investigation
31. The Department has continued to develop its approach
to potentially fraudulent claims under both schemes (ie COPD and
VWF).
32. IRISC have set up the Special Investigations Department
(SID). SID will manage and investigate potentially fraudulent
claims. SID management have been delegated authority to make case
investigation decisions to help improve efficiency.
33. The Department and SID provide a quarterly update
to the CSG on potentially fraudulent claims.
34. The Department has also recently made proposals to
the CSG in relation to the payment of Claimants representatives'
costs where cases are subject to investigation. In cases where
Claimants representatives attend with their client for an interview
and as a result of the interview the case is referred back for
processing and there is no deduction from the value of the claim,
the Claimants representatives' reasonable costs in attending the
interview will be paid. This proposal is still with the CSG.
THE POSITION
AS BETWEEN
THE DEPARTMENT
AND CO
-DEFENDANTS
35. Co-defended claims account for almost 75% of the
remaining post MAP pool. An insurer liaison programme has been
introduced in an attempt to expedite the settlement of outstanding
co-defended claims. Progress has been made as follows.
36. A letter outlining the current position on co-defendant
claims was sent out to the top 16 insurers who, between them,
are handling approximately 80% of outstanding co defended claims.
The letter covered the closure of the scheme, ASED's, stalled
claims, the insurer liaison process and improved communications.
This was followed by a schedule of each firm's potential liabilities.
37. Twelve of the 16 companies have now responded. Of
these, eight were extremely positive and welcomed the proposals
to improve communications and progress the files. Of the remaining
four, two were merely acknowledgements; one was fairly negative
and one was not interested at all. This lack of cooperation is
disappointing.
38. The 16 companies have now been contacted again, with
a view to arranging meetings where necessary or to confirm their
position (see Appendix F).
39. To date 10 visits have been made to seven insurers/claims
handlers. File discussions have been arranged with three companies
as a direct result. A further four visits are scheduled to take
place before the end of the year, with another visit scheduled
for January. A visit issues log has been created to keep a central
record of actions arising from meetings.
40. DLA, for their clients, have provided an Annex A
for the revised CHA detailing the provisions of the CHA to which
their clients do not subscribe.
41. The Department has requested in correspondence confirmation
from the other co-defendant representatives that they will prepare
a similar document or confirm that their clients' position reflects
that of DLA's clients. No response has been forthcoming save that
Ricksons have indicated that, subject to formal approval by Zurich
Insurance, the draft Annex A accords with their clients' position.
The Department understands that a similar request has recently
been made by the CSG.
42. Such information is helpful to all parties in providing
a full and clear picture of the stance of each co-defendant in
relation to the CHA.
43. Some difficulties have arisen in relation to reimbursement
between co-defendants. DLA have recently written to IRISC claiming
reimbursement said to be long outstanding. It is understood that
IRISC is dealing with these requests. It is fair to point out
however that, as agreed with co-defendants, the Department continues
to make repayments to the Compensation Recovery Unit of sums in
fact due from co-defendants
CROSSOVER
44. At the last COPD Court Review Hearing, directions
were given by Sir Michael Turner for the determination of the
issues in dispute. The timetable culminates in a two day hearing
listed for the 22 February 2005 and 23 February 2005 to be heard
before both Lady Justice Smith and Sir Michael Turner. The Hearing
will proceed if agreement cannot be reached between the parties
prior to that date.
COSTS
Base Costs
45. The CSG has made a request for an increase on base
costs. A procedure for reviewing the level of Claimant's representatives'
costs has been agreed as between the Department and the CSG. This
requires the identification of a cohort of cases, randomly chosen,
and the assessment of the Claimants representatives costs by a
Cost Draftsman appointed by the Department. The Department will
then consider whether an increase in base costs might be warranted
in the light of the evidence that it has received. It is intended
that the co-defendants would be consulted before the Department
makes any decisions. The result of the Cost Draftsman's review
will be shared with all interested parties.
Services Costs
46. The agreed assessment of a finite number of cases
before the possible agreement of an appropriate fixed tariff is
still underway. The other option that will be considered will
be to continue to assess each case on its merits.
Co-Defendant Costs
47. The CSG has made representations that the costs paid
in Co-Defended cases under the CHA should be uplifted to reflect
the additional work undertaken by Claimants representatives in
dealing with such claims. Neither the Department nor the co-defendants
are attracted by the arguments so advanced by the CSG.
Phase V Generic Costs
48. Interim payments in respect of the Phase V costs
have been made by the Department and the Co-Defendants. Apportionment
of costs has been agreed as between the Department and the Co-Defendants.
Phase VI Generic Costs
49. The Department has made interim payments in respect
of Phase VI. Apportionment as between the Defendants remains outstanding.
A meeting between the Defendants' Costs Draftsmen is proposed
to consider the CSG's Phase VI costs and it is anticipated that
following this meeting, the Defendants will between them resolve
the issue of apportionment of this phase of the generic costs.
Ronald Walker QC, Catherine Foster
13 December 2004
Annex E
PROCESSING A COPD CLAIM
The following steps summarise the procedures for processing
a claim under the Respiratory Disease Claims Handling Agreement.
— Upon receipt, the details of the claim are registered
by IRISC, DTI's claims handlers.
— Live claimants are prioritised by age and date
of claim to then undertake spirometry (basic lung function tests).
In parallel, IRISC request employment records from Iron Mountain
who look after the former British Coal records.
— If a live claimant is receiving Industrial Injuries
Disablement Benefit from DWP for Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema,
they receive a £2,000 interim payment.
— Depending on the spirometry results IRISC may
make an offer of an Expedited Payment in final settlement of the
claim. The claimant can accept the offer and settle his claim,
or decline the offer and proceed through the Medical Assessment
Process (MAP). If the latter, in most cases he will then receive
an interim payment equal to roughly 70% of the Expedited offer.
Those who fail to attract an Expedited offer on the basis of their
spirometry results can still elect to proceed through the MAP.
— Live claimants are then re-prioritised to proceed
through the MAP on the basis of age, date of claim and the spirometry
results—the greater the loss of lung function the higher
the priority points.
— IRISC inform the claimants' solicitors of the
revised priority score and ask them to send in claims packs—mandates
(to allow access to the claimants' medical records), claims questionnaire
and financial and other losses questionnaire—in priority
order.
— Having received a completed claims pack, IRISC
check it for completeness before passing it to Atos Origin, together
with the associated priority score.
— Atos Origin extract the mandates and pass them
to their sub-contractor, Elision, who is charged with obtaining
and scanning (on to CD-ROM) the claimant's medical records.
— In parallel IRISC seek to agree the claimant's
detailed work history with the claimant's solicitor, informed
by whatever records Iron Mountain were able to supply.
— Once the medical records have been scanned, Atos
Origin contact the claimant to arrange a MAP appointment at the
nearest or most convenient centre (or at home if the claimant
is unfit to travel). Here the claimant undergoes a more comprehensive
set of lung function tests than at screening spirometry before
having a consultation with a Respiratory Specialist of consultant
status.
— The doctor checks the claimant's medical history
and asks a series of standard questions. He diagnoses any COPD
conditions, plus other conditions which may be contributing to
overall disability but for which DTI are not liable and thus do
not merit compensation. He also validates, or amends, the claimant's
smoking history, before completing his medical, ie "MAP"
report.
— The MAP report is then QA'd by Atos Origin (for
completeness and internal consistency, not clinical accuracy)
before being returned to IRISC.
— If IRISC have by then agreed the man's work history
with his solicitor they then calculate any compensation that is
due.
— If IRISC are unable to make a full and final offer
because of an incomplete or unagreed work history, or other unresolved
issue, wherever possible they make a further interim payment.
— Once the claimant's representative accept a full
and final offer payment is made and the claim is closed.
Claims relating to deceased men are handled in a broadly
similar manner using the records only, obviously without the benefit
of lung function tests and a consultation with a specialist. Claims
are prioritised by age of the widow before the solicitor is invited
to submit a Claims Pack, again consisting of mandates and questionnaires,
in priority order. Claims from widows are also assessed initially
for any entitlement to a statutory bereavement award. This is
based primarily on the death certificate (and any post mortem
report), and is paid where COPD caused or materially contributed
to the death. Bereavement awards can also in some circumstances
be paid post-MAP. For the full MAP report, the Respiratory Specialist
completes this on the basis of the medical records and information
in the claims documentation.
Annex F
PROCESSING A VWF CLAIM
The following steps summarise the procedures for processing
a claim under the Vibration White Finger Claims Handling Arrangement.
— Upon receipt of a claim details are registered
by IRISC, DTI's claims handlers.
— IRISC request the claimant's employment records
from Iron Mountain to determine the claimant's occupation—the
first criterion for entitlement.
— Once the occupation group has been established,
claimants are prioritised by date of claim before going through
the Medical Assessment Process (MAP). At this point an interim
payment is paid where a claimant is receiving Industrial Injuries
Disablement Benefit for VWF from DWP.
— Claimants are invited to attend a convenient testing
centre, run by Atos Origin, to undergo the MAP.
— At the centre, initially, a technician carries
out a series of tests to establish the degree of injury to the
man's blood vessels and nerve endings that may constitute disability
due to VWF.
— The technician completes a report with test results
which is then passed to the doctor, usually a GP, who asks a series
of standard questions of the man and conducts some additional
tests. The doctor then completes the MAP report.
— Atos Origin QA the report and forward it to IRISC,
who then determine the amount of compensation where appropriate.
— If IRISC are unable to make a full and final offer
because of an unresolved issue they make an interim payment where
possible.
The above procedures relate to general damages. In addition,
there are many claims for certain heads of special damages—principally
Loss of Services.
Annex G1
RESPIRATORY DISEASE HEADLINE STATISTICS
| | |
| | | |
| 18 Jan
2004 |
27 Jun
2004 | 12 Sep
2004
| 09 Jan
2005 | Increase Since Sept 2004
|
| | |
| | No. | %
|
| | |
| | | |
| a. Total number of claims *1 | 399,938
| 566,624 | 570,247 | 575,222
| 4,975 | 0.9% |
| b. Compensation paid £ million | 959
| 1,116 | 1,191 | 1,292
| 100 | 8.4% |
| c. Claims pack submitted to Capita*2 | 201,932
| 241,328 | 277,342 | 322,232
| 44,890 | 16.2% |
| d. MAPs completed | 167,784 |
195,891 | 211,613 | 242,372
| 30,759 | 14.5% |
| Cases processed post MAP |
| | | |
| |
| e. Interim payments | 35,185 |
36,014 | 36,264 | 36,634
| 370 | 1.0% |
| f. Full and Final Offers*3 | 106,536
| 131,389 | 143,216 | 160,808
| 17,592 | 12.3% |
| g. Denials | 11,956 | 15,014
| 16,540 | 19,019 | 2,479
| 15.0% |
| h. Total Post MAP Offers | 118,492
| 146,403 | 159,756 | 179,827
| 20,071 | 12.6% |
| Percentage of MAPs (d) | 70.6%
| 74.7% | 75.5% | 74.2%
| | |
| Total Settlements | |
| | |
| |
| i. Expedited Settlements | 14,955
| 16,672 | 17,728 | 19,207
| 1,479 | 8.3% |
| j. Post MAP Settlements | 81,226
| 101,597 | 113,678 | 132,072
| 18,394 | 16.2% |
| j(i) by payment | 79,699
| 99,630 | 111,222 | 128,650
| 17,428 | 15.7% |
| j(ii) by non payment (denials) | 1,527
| 1,967 | 2,456 | 3,422
| 966 | 39.3% |
| k. Other Settlements (non-MAP) | 13,603
| 20,054 | 23,489 | 26,853
| 3,364 | 14.3% |
| k(i) by payment | 607 |
657 | 688 | 723 |
35 | 5.1% |
| k(ii) by non payment (withdrawn) | 12,996
| 19,397 | 22,801 | 26,130
| 3,329 | 14.6% |
| l. Total Settled claims (I+j+k) | 109,784
| 138,323 | 154,895 | 178,132
| 23,237 | 15.0% |
| Percentage of Total claims | 27.5%
| 24.4% | 27.2% | 31.0%
| | |
| m. Potential Settlements | 12,810
| 14,784 | 15,710 | 17,220
| 1,510 | 9.6% |
| m(i) Archived (stalled) claims | 2,381
| 1,737 | 1,626 | 1,623
| -3 | -0.2% |
| m(ii) Outstanding Post MAP denials | 10,429
| 13,047 | 14,084 | 15,597
| 1,513 | 10.7% |
| n. Total Settled claims (l+m) | 122,594
| 153,107 | 170,605 | 195,352
| 24,747 | 14.5% |
| Percentage of Total claims | 30.7%
| 27.0% | 29.9% | 34.0%
| | |
| | |
| | | |
| | |
| | | |
*1 Claim receipts are those claims that are fully registered,
ie exclude pool of claims accepted with minimum data, awaiting
further information to permit cross referencing and duplicate
checks prior to full registration.
*2 Includes incomplete Claims Packs.
*3 Includes "Negative Offers".
Annex G2
VWF
(taken from DTI's Report to Court December 2004)
HEADLINE STATISTICS
| | |
| |
| General Damages | 22/12/03
| 19/03/04 | 29/07/04
| 20/12/04 |
| | |
| |
| Claims Received, excluding PL (i) | 169,538
| 169,563 | 169,592 | 169,601
|
| Deceased % | 11% | 12%
| 12% | 13% |
| Settled by payment/denial | 77,652
| 83,056 | 90,168 | 96,795
|
| General Damages Interims | 41,617
| 44,125 | 46,707 | 49,444
|
| Offers Outstanding with Solicitors | 6,099
| 4,698 | 4,678 | 3,663
|
| Settlement Value | £612m
| £644m | £707m |
£758m |
| Total Damages Cost | £893m
| £933m | £994m |
£1.041bn |
| MAP examinations completed | 107,921
| 109,290 | 109,778 | 110,277
|
| | |
| |
| | |
| |
Annex H
Breakdown of 25 coalfield areas that have received the highest
level of total damages since the schemes inception in 1999.
|
| Constituency | Payments as of 31/12/04
| Total (£ Millions) |
|
| Easington | 11,813 | 82.7
|
| Barnsley East and Mexborough | 13,452
| 78.9 |
| Hemsworth | 11,999 | 68.7
|
| Bolsover | 12,656 | 64.6
|
| Sherwood | 12,714 | 62.7
|
| Mansfield | 10,878 | 58.1
|
| Ashfield | 11,269 | 57.4
|
| Bassetlaw | 9,638 | 57.3
|
| Doncaster North | 9,105 |
55.2 |
| Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney | 7,217
| 52.8 |
| Ogmore | 7,188 | 51.3
|
| Rhondda | 6,625 | 49.6
|
| Don Valley | 8,199 | 48.2
|
| Cynon Valley | 6,464 | 48.1
|
| Barnsley Central | 8,559 |
48 |
| Wansbeck | 7,381 | 46.7
|
| Pontefract and Castleford | 7,481
| 42.6 |
| Caerphilly | 6,083 | 40.9
|
| Barnsley West and Penistone | 7,262
| 38.7 |
| Houghton and Washington East | 5,320
| 36.6 |
| Islwyn | 3,455 | 35.3
|
| Rother Valley | 6,132 | 35.1
|
| Blaenau Gwent | 5,521 | 34.3
|
| Wentworth | 5,892 | 33.9
|
| Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley | 4,745
| 28.8 |
|
| | |
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