The conditions of entitlement to a payment in the case of a person suffering from a disease to which the Pneumoconiosis Order applies are set out in Article 3(3) of that Order. One of the conditions of entitlement is that every person by whom the person suffering from the disease was employed at any time during the period which he was developing the disease and against whom he might have or might have had a claim for damages in respect of the disablement (“relevant employers”) have ceased to carry on business. If there are no relevant employers, a payment is made.
Section 52 inserts a definition of “relevant employer” as set out in Schedule 6 which would allow a claim to be made where the employment was a long time in the past or only lasted for a short period of time.