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: www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-injuries-disablement-benefits-technical-guidance.

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.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-injuries-disablement-benefit-claim-forms.

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.