Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Eligibility
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit is a weekly benefit paid to people who become disabled because of an accident at work or due to certain prescribed diseases caused by their job on or after 5 July 1948.
- See Appendix 1 for a list of prescribed diseases.
The amount you get depends on how badly you are disabled as a result of the industrial injury or disease.
Employed earner’s employment
Only employed earners, or people who can be treated as employed earners, are covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme. [Legislation (8)] [Legislation (9)]
An employed earner is a person who is gainfully employed in Great Britain either under a contract of service or is an office holder (for example, a company director), and is liable to pay income tax under Schedule E on their salary, wages or fees. [Legislation (10)]
Some people who are not employed earners are treated as though they were for the purposes of the scheme, for example:
- special constables, who are not paid and so cannot be said to be working for reward
- 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. Legislation (11)]
How to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
You do not need to have paid any NI contributions in order to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
If your accident or disease is caused by self-employed work or employment not treated as employed earner’s employment, you are not covered by the scheme.
Trainees who have an accident or contract a disease during the course of a work-based training programme cannot get industrial injuries benefits. But there is a similar scheme run by the DWP for these people.
You cannot get industrial injuries benefits for accidents which occur or diseases contracted while serving in HM forces. You may be able to get compensation through the War Pensions Scheme or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. [Legislation (12)]
If you are not sure whether you are covered you should ask at your social security office.
The decision maker will give an informal opinion on employed earner’s employment and if it is accepted that the employment is as an employed earner no further question on employment status arises.
If it is not accepted that the employment is as an employed earner, any claim to benefit will be disallowed. If you dispute a disallowance, your papers will be sent to the Inland Revenue for a formal decision on employed earner’s employment.
Residence in Great Britain
You must normally have had the accident or got the disease in Great Britain, but you may still get benefit if:
- you were a mariner, airman, worked on the continental shelf of the United Kingdom, or worked in another European Union (EU) country or Norway [Legislation (13)] [Legislation (14)]
- your employer was paying Class 1 NI contributions for you while you [Legislation (15)] were working out of the country
- you were paying special Class 2 contributions as a volunteer [Legislation (16)] development worker
- you worked in one of the countries with which Great Britain has an agreement covering industrial injuries.
Obtaining a claim form
Contact your social security office for a claim pack. You can get the address of your nearest office from the post office® or by looking in the business section of the phone book under Jobcentre Plus or social security.
- You can also access the claim packs on the DWP website. The address is www.dwp.gov.uk
The claim packs are:
| BI 100A | Industrial Accidents |
| BI 100PD | Prescribed Industrial Diseases |
Not every social security office deals with these claims. You may be referred to another office that deals with this benefit.
When to claim
If you think you have a disease caused by your job, claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit straight away.
If you have an accident, claim 2 months after the accident. This is because you cannot get benefit for the first 15 weeks (90 days not including Sundays) after your accident and you will not normally be medically examined until after this time.
If you have any relevant medical evidence, send it with your claim form but do not delay claiming by trying to get a fresh report.
Do not delay claiming. If you do you may lose some benefits. This is because Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit cannot be paid:
- for a period more than 3 months before the date of your claim [Legislation (17)]
- more than one month before the date of claim, if you are already receiving Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for other accidents or diseases. [Legislation (18)]
- Different rules apply to claims for occupational deafness. You cannot get benefit for any period before the date of claim – see the ‘Prescribed diseases’.
The date of your claim is the date your fully completed claim form is received by a Jobcentre Plus or social security office. It is very important that you fill in all the details on the form carefully and return it to your Regional Industrial Injuries Benefit Delivery Centre as soon as possible. [Legislation (19)]
If you want help filling in your claim form, or any part of it, ring the Benefit Enquiry Line for people with disabilities. The phone number is 0800 88 22 00.