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# Ipswich MP welcomes fairer compensation for asbestos families
- URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/ipswich-mp-welcomes-fairer-compensation-for-asbestos-families/
- Published: 2026-09-21T07:18:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-21T07:18:29.000Z
- Description: Jack Abbott has welcomed new Government legislation that will end a £7,000 compensation shortfall for the bereaved families of asbestos and dust-disease victims.
- Author: Oliver Rouane-Williams
- Tags: News, Jack Abbott, Policy Changes & Impacts

**Why it matters:** Under the current system, families who lose a loved one to diseases such as mesothelioma and pneumoconiosis receive a reduced compensation payment compared with sufferers themselves – a gap the Ipswich MP has long campaigned to close.

**The details:** Workers who develop asbestos-related and dust-related diseases through their job can claim a one-off Government payment if they have not already secured compensation from their employer, often because the firm responsible has since gone out of business.

- On average, sufferers receive £17,700, while dependants currently receive £10,700 – a shortfall of £7,000.
- In 2025, 2,730 sufferers received an award, alongside 300 awards paid to bereaved families at the lower rate.
- Under the new legislation, laid in Parliament, dependants will receive the same rate as sufferers in full.

The changes will also simplify how awards are calculated, removing outdated top-up payments and introducing a single award structure, ending confusion caused by rules referring to Pneumoconiosis Medical Boards, which stopped operating years ago.

**What they're saying:** Jack Abbott MP, Member of Parliament for Ipswich, said: "Having campaigned on asbestos-related issues for many years, I have seen the devastating impact these diseases can have on families.

"For too long, grieving families, already enduring the loss of a loved one, have not received the support they deserve. That is wrong on so many levels.

"These new measures will put a stop to this grave injustice, so bereaved families can finally access the compensation they are entitled to."

Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said: "Families who have lost a loved one to a disease caused by their work deserve our support, not a system that treats them as an afterthought.

"That's exactly what's been happening, and campaigners have been telling us for over a decade that it's wrong.

"Today we're fixing it. Fairer, simpler, clearer support for families, at an incredibly difficult time in their lives."

**What's next:** The draft regulations will come into force on 31 October 2026, subject to Parliamentary approval. The changes are expected to benefit dependants by between £2m and £6m annually.

**The bottom line:** After years of campaigning to close the gap, Ipswich's MP says bereaved families will no longer be penalised twice – first by their loss, then by an unfair compensation system.

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