FAQ’s
This site’s Eligibility Questionnaire will help you to understand whether you are eligible to apply to the scheme.
You can make an application up to three years after your first diagnosis of Diffuse Mesothelioma. Once you are in possession of the supporting evidence outlined in question 4, however, you may want to apply as soon as possible.
If you were diagnosed between the 25th July 2012 and the date the scheme starts taking applications, you have three years to apply from the latter date.
Yes, but only if you are an eligible dependant of the deceased. Where there are two or more dependants, payments can be made to each dependant, but the amounts will always correspond with the prevailing tariff and equal the amount that would be payable if there were just one dependant.
In order to complete the application form fully, you will need to have the following pieces of information to hand:
*Your National Insurance Number
*Your age when diagnosed
*Evidence of said diagnosis and the date on which it was made
*Evidence in support of your employment history
*Evidence of any/all unsuccessful attempts to trace your employer/their insurer (the Employers’ Liability Tracing Office holds historic insurance policy records. In order to determine if there is a liable party that you might be able to claim against, an extended trace needs to be carried out via the ELTO).
*Details of any previous claims made
*A Witness Statement
No, the application can be made by you. The application form should be completed and submitted alongside the relevant supporting documentation as stated in the answer to FAQ 4. At any point, however, you may instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf.
If you do not have electronic copies of some or all of your supporting evidence, you can send us paper copies by post. Any original or photocopied documentation sent by post should be marked with your unique reference number which will have been provided in the e-mail sent acknowledging receipt of your application form.
If evidence is missing from your application when we receive it, we will write to you setting out what is missing and asking you to provide the relevant information. Your application will be put on hold until this is received. If you do not send us the further information requested, a decision on your eligibility will be made solely on the evidence you have sent.
If you have any questions about your application or the supporting evidence required, please do not hesitate to contact Topmark Claims Management.
If you have a solicitor you may want to ask them to help you progress your application. Otherwise, please contact TopMark Claims Management so that we may assist and determine how best to go about obtaining this information.
As the scheme administrator, Davies Group Ltd and its subsidiary TopMark Claims Management are bound by strict rules concerning the storage and unauthorised disclosure of information relating to a person and acquired in the course of administering the scheme. These rules go beyond those contained in the Data Protection Act 1998.
Payments are made according to age based tariff and correlate with the age of the person with Diffuse Mesothelioma when they were diagnosed.
There are two tariffs – the first is for a person diagnosed from 25 July 2012 to 9 February 2015, while the second is for a person diagnosed from 10 February 2015 onwards.
Where the application is made by a dependant and a diagnosis was made after the sufferer’s death, the tariff payment will correspond with the age of the sufferer when they died.
The tariff amounts paid in respect of successful applications include a fixed fee of £7,000, out of which you can pay your solicitor’s fee.
If you incur legal costs of less than £7,000, you are entitled to keep the difference. If your legal costs exceed £7,000, you will be liable to make up the difference.
Once all necessary documentation and information has been received in support of an application, a decision will be made within four weeks and, if successful, payment made within two weeks thereafter.
If you submit an application to the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme and it is under consideration when you die, your claim will be progressed as if you were alive and a decision made.
If successful, a payment will be made to your personal representative.
If, prior to their death, an individual with Diffuse Mesothelioma did not make an application to the Scheme, and assuming that they meet the eligibility criteria, financial dependants may apply for a DMPS payment in their stead.
If you have received recoverable DWP lump sum payments or social security benefits in relation to mesothelioma, these will be deducted from the tariff payment.
This is in line with the benefit recovery rules that operate for civil claims.
The DMPS payment is payable in cases where a claim could not be brought against a liable employer/insurer. If a liable employer/insurer is subsequently identified and a successful claim made, the compensator must deduct the amount of the DMPS payment from the compensation payment and repay that to the DMPS scheme.
If a liable employer/insurer is identified after a scheme payment has been made, you must contact TopMark Claims Management. We will provide further advice and may be able to assist you in pursuing the claim.
Giving your reasons why you feel that decision was incorrect, you may request that Topmark Claims Management review the decision on your application.
If you remain dissatisfied once the review has been completed, you can request that an independent appeal tribunal (known as the First Tier Tribunal) considers your case.
If you have any other queries which have not been addressed by these FAQs, or the ‘Application & Appeals’ or Glossary & Useful Links’ pages, please do not hesitate to contact us at DMPS.CM@davies-group.com.