1. The Law
1.3 Exempt payments
Benefits will not be recovered by CRU from the following types of payments as listed in Schedule 1 of the 1997 Act.
- Any small payment (defined in Part II of this Schedule).
- Any payment made to or for the injured person under Section 35 of the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 or Section 249 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (compensation orders against convicted persons).
- Any payment made in the exercise of a discretion out of property held
subject to a trust in a case where no more than 50 per cent by value of
the capital contributed to the trust was directly or indirectly provided
by persons who are, or are alleged to be, liable in respect of:
a) the accident, injury or disease suffered by the injured person, or
b) the same or any connected accident, injury or disease suffered by another. - Any payment made out of property held for the purpose of any prescribed trust (whether the payment also falls within para. 3 above or not).
- Any payment made to the injured person by an insurance company within
the meaning of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 under the terms of any
contract of insurance entered into between the injured person and the
company before:
a) the date on which the injured person first claims a listed benefit in consequence of the disease in question, or
b) the occurrence of the accident or injury in question. - Any redundancy payment failing to be taken into account in the assessment of damages in respect of an accident, injury or disease.
- So much of any payment as is referable to costs.
- Any prescribed payment.
The following trusts are prescribed for the purpose of paragraph 4 of Schedule 1: and may be found in Regulation 2.1 of the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations 1997.
(a) the Macfarlane Trust established on 10th March 1988 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State to the Haemophilia Society for the relief of poverty or distress among those suffering from haemophilia;
(b) the Macfarlane (Special Payments) Trust established on 29 January 1990 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia;
(c) the Macfarlane (Special Payments) (No. 2) Trust established on 3 May 1991 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia and other beneficiaries;
(d) the Eileen Trust established on 29 March 1993 out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the benefit of persons eligible for payment in accordance with its provisions;
(e) a trust established out of funds provided by the Secretary of State in respect of persons who suffered, or who are suffering, from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease for the benefit of persons eligible for interim payments in accordance with its provisions; (Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 1118, which amends the 1997 Regulations).
(f) a trust established out of funds provided by the Secretary of State in respect of persons who suffered, or who are suffering, from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease for the benefit of persons eligible for payments, other than interim payments, in accordance with its provisions. (Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 1118, which amends the 1997 Regulations).
(g) the UK Asbestos Trust established on 10 October 2006, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
(h) the EL Scheme Trust established on 23 November 2006, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
The following payments are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 8 of Schedule 1:
(a) any payment to the extent that it is made-
(i) in consequence of an action under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976(a); or
(ii) in circumstances where, had an action been brought, it would have been brought under the Act;
NB If any of the action is being brought under the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934, a CRU1 needs to be completed.
(b) any payment to the extent that it is made in respect of a liability arising by virtue of Section 1 of the Damages (Scotland) Act 1976(b);
(c) any payment made under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979(c) to or in respect of the injured person;
(d) any award of compensation made to or in respect of the injured person under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995(d) or by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 1990 or any earlier scheme;
(e) any compensation payment made by British Coal in accordance with the NCB Pneumoconiosis Compensation Scheme set out in the Schedule to an agreement made on the 13th September 1974 between the National Coal Board, the National Union of Mine Workers, the National Association of Colliery Over-men Deputies and Shot-firers and the British Association of Colliery Management;
(f) any payment made to the injured person in respect of sensorineural hearing loss where the loss is less than 50 dB in one or both ears;
(g) any contractual amount paid to an employee by an employer of his or hers in respect of a day of incapacity for work;
(h) any payment made under the National Health service (Injury Benefits) Regulations 1995(e) or the National Health service (Scotland) (Injury Benefits) Regulations 1974(f);
(i) any payment made or on behalf of the Secretary of State for the benefit of persons eligible for payment in accordance with the provisions of a scheme established by him on 24th April 1992 or, in Scotland, on 10th April 1992
(j) any payment made from the Skipton Fund, the ex-gratia payment scheme administered by the Skipton Fund Limited, incoprorated on 25 March 2004, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from Hepatitis C and other persons eligible for payment in accordance with the scheme’s provisions.
NB. For Northern Ireland only: any payment made to or for the injured person under Article 14 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 (compensation orders against convicted persons).
Where it is clear that the claim falls into one of these categories, you do not need to send form CRU1 to us.
If there is any doubt about whether an individual payment is, or should be, exempt from the scheme, please contact CRU for advice.
Please note: The Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 Schedule 1 Part 1 and Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations 1997 Section 2 lists all exempt payments.
Pneumoconiosis, etc (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979.
The above Act provides for payments to people, or dependants of people, who suffer from certain Industrial diseases caused by dust. A person may make a claim if he is unable to get damages from the employers who caused or contributed to the disease.
Payments made under this Act are made by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). This is because the claimant cannot claim against anyone else. The payments are not made on behalf of a person who is, or is alleged to be, liable for having caused the disease.
The Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 does not apply to these payments.