PART IGENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This scheme may be cited as the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Scheme 1982, and shall come into operation on 19th November 1982.

(2) In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act” means the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975;

“the Social Security Act” means the Social Security Act 1975;

“the 1951 Act” means the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Act 1951;

“the 1965 Act” means the Workmen's Compensation and Benefit (Amendment) Act 1965;

[F1“the 1998 Act” means the Social Security Act 1998;]

“the Secretary of State” means the Secretary of State for Social Services;

“allowance” means an allowance payable by virtue of Part II of this scheme;

[F2“the appropriate determining authority” means the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, [F3the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal;]]

“beneficiary” means a person entitled to an allowance under this scheme;

“the Board” means the Board established for the administration of, and for the determination of questions assigned to them under, the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Scheme 1966 and abolished by the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) (Amendment) Scheme 1977;

[F2“claimant” means a person claiming an allowance and includes, in relation to the revision or supersession of a decision, a beneficiary under the award or affected by the decision;]

“compensation scheme” means a scheme made under the Workmen's Compensation (Silicosis) Act 1918 (as originally enacted or as extended by the Workmen's Compensation (Silicosis) Act 1924 or under section 47 of the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925 (as originally enacted or as extended by any subsequent enactment);

“corresponding disablement pension rate” means the weekly rate for the time being of a pension payable under section 57(6) of the Social Security Act in respect of an assessment of one hundred per cent;

F4...

“medical board” means the medical board appointed under paragraph 3 of the Silicosis and Asbestosis (Medical Arrangements) Scheme 1931;

[F5“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner who has experience in the issues specified in regulation 12(1) of the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999;]

“pneumoconiosis” means fibrosis of the lungs due to silica dust, asbestos dust or other dust, and includes the condition of the lungs known as dust reticulation; and in the case of a person who suffers from pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis, the effects of the tuberculosis may be treated as if they were effects of the pneumoconiosis and in the case of a person who suffers from pneumoconiosis, or pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis, to an extent which would, if his physical condition were otherwise normal, be of a gravity comparable to an assessment of not less than 50 per cent under the Social Security Act, the effects of any accompanying emphysema or chronic bronchitis may be treated as if they were the effects of the pneumoconiosis;

“the relevant injury or disease” in relation to any person means the injury or disease in respect of which he is, or has since the appropriate date specified in Part II of this scheme been, entitled to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation;

“unemployment benefit” means unemployment benefit under the Social Security Act;

“workmen's compensation” means compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Acts 1925 to 1945, the enactments repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1925 or the enactments repealed by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1906 or under any contracting-out scheme duly certified under any of those Acts.

(3) Any reference in this scheme to the happening of an accident shall, in relation to a case of disease, he construed in the same way as for the purposes of the Acts relating to workmen's compensation.

(4) For the purpose of this scheme—

(a)a person shall be deemed to be or have been entitled to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation at any time if he would be or, as the case may be, have been so entitled at that time if—

(i)the amount of any payment, allowance or benefit received by him otherwise than by way of workmen's compensation, or

(ii)where the accident in consequence of which entitlement is deemed happened before 1st January 1924, either the said amount, or the amount he is earning or able to earn in some suitable employment or business, or both those amounts,

were sufficiently reduced;

(b)a payment—

(i)under the Workmen's Compensation (War Addition) Acts 1917 and 1919, or

(ii)under the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementary Allowances) Act 1940 as amended by the Workmen's Compensation (Temporary Increases) Act 1943,

shall be treated as a weekly payment by way of workmen's compensation;

(c)a period shall be treated as considerable if it lasts or can be expected to last for not less than 13 weeks;

(d)a person may be treated as being, as the result of an injury or disease or as the joint result of 2 or more injuries or diseases, totally incapable of work and likely to remain so incapable for a considerable period notwithstanding that the disability resulting from the injury or disease or, as the case may be, from the injuries or diseases taken together is not such as to prevent him from being capable of work, if it is likely to prevent his earnings (including any remuneration or profit derived from a gainful occupation) exceeding in a year such amount as is for the time being prescribed in pursuance of section 58(3) of the Social Security Act (unemployability supplement).

Textual Amendments