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It has come to light that the government work injury compensation scheme for coal miners has been burdened by administrative costs, with £1 being spent on administration for every £2 paid to miners in work injury compensation.
The findings into the compensation scheme set up by the then-named Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were released in a public account committee's report.
The same report reveals that of the 750,000 work injury compensation claims received since its inception 130,000 remain unsettled. There are mounting concerns about these unresolved claims as many of the claimants are now ailed by old age ill health and "anxious to receive their compensation." A number of these claimants have died with outstanding claims remaining unsettled.
A number of MPs have attacked failures in the system, accusing it of being "weak" in its negotiations with personal injury solicitors, with the committee chairman commenting that "the department seriously mismanaged… the early stages of the implementation of the two schemes."
"Its attempt to implement the schemes swiftly, combined with its underestimation of how many claims would be made and how complex some would be, resulted in many claimants having to wait a very long time for the compensation they were owed."
However, a spokeperson from the DTI's successor the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is adamant that the early problems have now been ironed out, saying, "Improvements have been made, particularly from the early stages of the scheme including the fast-track system to ensure miners and their families get their compensation paid quicker. "We continually seek further improvements and we will be giving a fully considered response to all the PAC's conclusions and recommendations."
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