Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

If you have an accident at work, contract an industrial disease, or become deaf through your work, you should be able to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB). You should also contact your trade union or a solicitor to advise on the possibility of claiming compensation if the injury or sickness is a result of employer negligence.

Who can get it?

To qualify for IIDB, you must have been a paid employee when you suffered an injury or contracted an “industrial disease”, that is one of more than 70 prescribed diseases officially recognised as work-related by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC).

The diseases and conditions are listed on the Department for Work and Pensions website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/a4-3851.pdf

If you want to claim benefit for a disease, you will need to fill in form BI100PD Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for a prescribed industrial disease. You can get it from your regional disablement benefit office and online at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/255500/bi100pd_print.pdf

If you want to declare and claim benefit for an accident at work you need to fill in form BI100A available to download at: www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/claimforms/bi100a_print.pdf

The scheme applies to “employed earners” so you are not covered if you were self-employed when you had the accident or contracted the disease.

However, some people who are not employed earners are treated as though they were for the purposes of the scheme. These include:

• agency staff who are self-employed under a contract for services but are still liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance (NI) contributions in respect of their earnings; and

• people who were on an approved employment training scheme or course when the accident or event happened.

You can get IIDB either temporarily or permanently for major or minor injuries. A medical examination will normally be arranged to assess the extent of the disability and how long it is expected to last. This could be a provisional assessment if it is thought that the condition could get better or worse.

How much can you get?

The level of benefit will depend on the extent of the disablement — the “percentage” disability. Total loss of sight or hearing or the loss of both hands would, for example, count as 100% disability, while loss of an index finger or big toe would count as 14%. You will not get benefit if your disability is assessed at less than 14%. The benefit is paid at rates between 20% and 100%, rounded up or down to the nearest 10%. If you are aged 18 or over (or under 18 with dependents) the weekly payments range from £33.20 (20% disabled) to £166.00 (100% disabled). Payments to under-18s without dependents were abolished in December 2012.

If your disability is assessed as 100% and you need constant care, you may also be eligible for Constant Attendance Allowance and perhaps Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance (see “Extra help for those claiming IIDB” below).

IIDB is available on top of any other National Insurance benefits, such as Incapacity Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance (contribution-based), contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Retirement Pension, but it may affect any claims for other benefits such as Working Tax Credit, Income Support, Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.

How to appeal

If you do not agree with the decision about your claim for IIDB, you can appeal (www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/gl24dwp.pdf). There are also several circumstances in which you can ask for your case to be looked at again — for example, if your injury has got worse.

Extra help for those claiming IIDB

If your total disablement is 100% as a result of an industrial accident or disease, and you are so seriously disabled that you need constant care and attention (being bedridden, blind or paralysed, for example), you could get a Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA).

The weekly rates are £132.80 (exceptional), £99.60 (intermediate), £66.40 (normal maximum) and £33.20 (part-time). Your need for constant attendance will be automatically considered at the time of your medical examination. You only need to make a separate application for CAA if you are 100% disabled and you later discover that you need constant attendance.

If you are entitled to CAA at one of the two higher rates listed above, and your need for attendance is likely to be permanent, you may qualify for an additional Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance worth £66.40 a week. In general, your entitlement to this will be considered at the same time as your entitlement to CAA. Depending on your age and circumstances, you may be entitled to other benefits such as Income Support (see page 23) or Pension Credit (see page 63).

Reduced Earnings Allowance and Retirement Allowance

These benefits are only available to people who have had accidents, or have diseases that started, before 1 October 1990.

Reduced Earnings Allowance (REA) can be paid on top of IIDB. If you do not get IIDB because your disablement is less than 14% you can still get REA as long as your disablement is assessed at 1% or more. If you have been receiving REA because you could not return to your regular occupation as a result of an accident at work or a prescribed industrial disease, you will continue to be entitled to it — the maximum rate is now £66.40 a week.

Retirement Allowance is a reduced rate of REA for people over pensionable age. It is awarded at a rate equivalent to 25% of the REA to which you were entitled on the day before you retired, or a retirement allowance of £16.16 a week, whichever is the lower.