Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Who can claim Injuries Disablement Benefit?

Most people who have fallen ill because of a workplace accident or disease are eligible. There are no age restrictions, as long as you had a contract, you are usually eligible. You also don’t need to have paid any National Insurance to be eligible for IIDB.

If you decided to continue working despite the illness or disability, you will also still be eligible.

There are only a few simple requirements for IIDB.

If you were involved in an accident:

• You were at work when the accident or event happened.
• You had a valid contract.
• If you weren’t at work, you were at a training scheme or course approved by your employer when the accident happened.
• It happened in the United Kingdom. Some exceptions apply to this, see below.

The accident can have happened for many reasons. Your work may have put you at risk, or you may have been injured because of an emergency situation. You are not eligible for IIDB if an accident happened while you were doing something illegal or against your employer’s advice.

You should contact your regional IIDB Centre if you are unsure about the accident or if you are eligible.

If you caught a disease:

• You caught the disease while at your place of work.
• If you were not at work, you were at a training scheme or course approved by your employer when you contracted the disease.
• It is classed as an ‘industrial disease’. For more information about this, see below.
• You suffer from one of the 70 diseases approved by the government.

Industrial diseases

An industrial disease is any disease or sickness that you catch from work because of exposure to a hazard over time.

It can be caused by several things, but it is usually from a hazardous substance or activity. Things like exposure to dust, fumes or asbestos can result in an industrial disease. Also, exposure to a harmful activity like vibrating tools or very loud noises can also result in injury.

According to the government, some of the most common industrial diseases are:

• Asthma
• Deafness
• Chronic bronchitis or emphysema
• Osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners
• Vibration white finger (A11)
• All asbestos related diseases

There are over 70 diseases which the government recognise as ‘industrial diseases’. This means to claim IIDB for a disease, you have to suffer from one of 70 set diseases. You can get a full list of illnesses from your regional IIDB Centre.

Exceptions

You will not be able to claim IIDB for any accident or illness that occured when you were self-employed.

You will also not be able to claim IIDB for any accident or disease that happened while you were a member of the armed forces. You should instead claim compensation through the War Pensions Scheme or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Usually, the accident or disease also must have happened in the United Kingdom. There are a few exceptions to this rule:

• You were a sailor or worked onboard a ship.
• You were a pilot.
• You were working in a country that is part of the European Union.
• Your employer was paying Class 1 NI contributions for you while you were abroad.
• Your employer was paying Class 2 NI contributions for you if you were an aid or charity worker.
• You worked in a country that has an IIDB agreement with Britain.

If you live outside of the United Kingdom

If you currently live outside of the United Kingdom and you want to claim IIDB, you should contact the International Pension Centre rather than a jobcentre at home.

Also, if the accident happened outside of the United Kingdom and you don’t fit into one of the exceptions above, you should also contact the International Pension Centre.

This office will provide you with the correct advice for claiming or receiving IIDB while abroad.

International Pension Centre

The Pension Service

11 Mail Handling Site A

Wolverhampton

WV98 1LW

0191 218 7650

How to claim

How to report an accident or disease to your employer
Once you have an accident at work, or feel like you are falling ill, you should tell your employer straight away. If your employer isn’t there, try and find another manager. They should keep an accident book in the workplace for recording things like this.

You should report it even if it doesn’t seem serious at the time. This will help your claim later on.

You will need to tell them your name, address, job title and details about what happened. If you don’t feel well enough to do it yourself, then you can ask someone you trust to do it for you.

How to report it to the government

You cannot claim for IIDB until two months after the accident has happened or you developed the disease. Once you report it, it will usually take 15 weeks to get a medical examination.

To report the accident or disease and starting claiming IIDB, you will need to fill in a form.

If you live in England, Scotland or Wales –

The form you fill in for an accident is different for a disease:

• For accidents caused at work – use form BI100A
• For diseases caused by work – use form BI100PD

You can download and print both forms using this link:

https://www.gov.uk/industrial-injuries-disablement-benefit/how-to-claim

If you don’t want to download and print the form, you can call the main IIDB centre and get one posted to you using the following numbers:

Barnsley Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) Centre:

0800 121 8379

The government has a helpful chart to help you understand call charges if you’re worried about phoning this number:

https://www.gov.uk/call-charges

This number can also be used to request special assistance such as braille, large print or audio CD forms.

If you live in Northern Ireland

You can access the appropriate forms using the following link:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/industrial-injuries-disablement-benefit-forms-and-guidance-notes

What you’ll need

To claim, you will need:

• Relevant evidence like copy of your accident report.
• Valid form of ID.
• Your National Insurance Number.
• Details of your employer.
• A copy of your contract.

Medical assessment

When you claim IIDB, you will have to see a doctor who will complete a medical assessment of your condition. This doctor will be specifically trained to identify IIDB illness and disabilities.

This assessment will either be permanent or you might have to go back every so often and re-assess your condition. If your illness or disability is very severe and will not change, the doctor will assess you once and you will have IIDB for life. If your illness or disability may improve, the doctor may ask you to come back after 5, 10, 20 years etc.

When you go to the medical appointment, the government may reimburse some of your costs. Talk to your local jobcentre or call the IIDB helpline for more information about this.

If you are struggling to get to the appointment, you can ask for someone to accompany you or you can request the doctor comes to your home.

You should prepare everything you think is relevant for the doctor to know that you didn’t include in your form. This can be anything from photographs to extra notes you forgot to include. Try and think of anything else you can give them that will help them get a proper opinion of your illness/disability.

The doctor will give you a full examination and will take a statement from you. At the end, the written report will be sent to the IIDB centre for a decision to be made.

If your current illness causes a further accident or disability, you can request to see the doctor again and get another assessment if your condition has changed.

What if the accident/illness happened years ago?

As a general rule of thumb, you will always be able to claim IIDB. Even if the accident happened 5 years ago, you are still eligible to claim.

But there are some exceptions to these rules.

• Deafness – You worked for that employer for 10 years and you have to claim within 5 years of going deaf.
• Asthma – You must claim within 10 years of leaving the job.
• Cataracts – You must have worked for that employer for more than 5 years.

You will need ID and your National Insurance number ready to claim.

It will only be backdated up to 3 months earlier. E.g. if it happened 8 years ago you’re eligible but you will only get payments for the past three months, not for the past 8 years. It will not be backdated for loss of hearing.

Will it affect my other benefits?

IIDB will affect some benefits, but it won’t affect others.

It won’t affect:

• Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Support Allowance (JSA)
• Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Incapacity benefits
• Your pension

But it will affect:

• Income support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Support Allowance (JSA)
• Income-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Lower council tax rates

Change in circumstances

Like with any other benefits, you have to tell the government if any of your personal details or circumstances change.

For IIDB, this could either be changes in your personal life or changes in your condition.

Here are some examples of things you should tell the government:

• If you condition gets worse or better.
• You get married or move in with a partner.
• If you change your name, address or telephone number.
• You decide to leave the United Kingdom and live abroad.
• You go to prison or are in custody.
• You decide to move back to the United Kingdom.

If you do decide to leave the United Kingdom for less than 3 months, your IIDB will not change. If you leave for more than 3 months, you will still get IIDB but have more choices about how it is paid.

You can either get it paid:

• To a UK bank account every 4 weeks or every 13 weeks.
• Receive it in payable orders to your new address outside of the UK.
• Have it paid to a nominated person at home.
• Pick it up entirely when you return to the UK.
• Receive ‘Transcontinental Automated Payments’ if the country you’re now in has an arrangement with UK jobcentres.

Unhappy with the outcome?

If you apply for IIDB but your claim isn’t successful, there are a few things you can do.

First of all, you can call the IIDB helpline ask for a written list of reasons to be sent to your address explaining why you didn’t get it. This will have reasons from the doctor and other advisors within the IIDB about why you don’t qualify for the benefit.
If you are unsatisfied with the decision, you can ask for something called a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ from the government.

A mandatory reconsideration is available for every kind of benefit the government offers.

You need to be careful, as the government are quite strict about the time limits in which you can complain. You only have a month after being rejected to ask for a mandatory consideration.

For more information, see the link:

https://www.gov.uk/mandatory-reconsideration

Other benefits you can get

If it turns out that you are eligible for IIDB, you may be able to claim other benefits as well.

Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA)

CAA is paid alongside IIDB if you need constant care and attention from a healthcare professional or carer because of the severity of your disease or disability.

To be eligible for this benefit, your doctor needs to have classed you as 100% affected by your illness/disability when you went for your assessment. This means you get the highest rate of IIDB each week.

There are four rates of CAA. The amount you get depends on how much care you need and how much it costs to have that level of care.

You don’t need to apply for CAA. When you claim IIDB, and you get the percentage of your illness or disease, if its 100% the benefit office will automatically consider you for CAA.

If you weren’t 100% when you claimed but your condition has now got worse, speak to your benefit office about claiming CAA.

Amounts currently range £34.95-£139.80 depending on if you need it for half a day or every day each week.

CAA will not affect any other benefits you receive.

Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance (ESDA)

ESDA is paid with CAA. You only get this if you get one of the two highest rates of CAA.

You don’t need to apply for this either, you will be considered automatically if you receive one of the two highest rates of CAA.

ESDA will not affect any other benefits you receive.

Reduced Earnings Allowance (REA)

This is an extra benefit to help if you can’t work because of your illness or disability, or your ability to work is reduced.

You can only get this for diseases or disabilities that started before 1 October 1990.

The amount you get depends on what your original wage was.

REA will affect other benefits you receive, so make sure to double check with your local jobcentre what you’re entitled to.

Retirement allowance

This is for people who have been getting REA but stop working once they reach state pension age.

The amount you will get in retirement allowance will be 25% of what you received for REA. For example, if you used to get £100 a month for REA, your retirement allowance will be £25.

Retirement allowance will affect other benefits you receive, so make sure to double check with your local jobcentre what you’re entitled to.

Useful Contacts

Turn2Us has a useful ‘Find an Adviser; tool which gives you contacts in your local area that are able to give you advice:

https://advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk/?_ga=2.194964010.644288976.1526891687-1827263242.1525618478

If you need help filling in the form, call Barnsley Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit office.

Telephone: 0345 758 5433

Mail Handling Site A

Wolverhampton

WV98 1SY

Trade Unions make claims on behalf of their members every year. If you are not sure which Trade Union you are a member of, you can use the government’s register to search:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-list-of-active-trade-unions-official-list-and-schedule/trade-unions-the-current-list-and-schedule