COMPENSATION can now be paid to South Yorkshire sufferers of asbestos-related cancer who contracted the illness after breathing in dust from relatives' work clothes.
The Government scheme entitles relatives who develop mesothelioma to a lump sum in compensation.
The system previously only helped those who were exposed to asbestos at work but whose employers were no longer in business.
Adrian Budgen of Irwin Mitchell, which deals with industrial illness claims, welcomed the new scheme but said more needed to be done.
He said: "Still not enough is done by government agencies to help those with the disease.
"The fact remains thousands of people in the UK are expected to develop mesothelioma in the coming years and yet we still have to fight for every scrap of compensation we can get to provide support and comfort for them in their final days. What is most sickening is that in a large number of cases the disease was caused by employers exposing their staff to asbestos while fully aware of its dangers.
"People are horrified nowadays to hear workers in other countries are exposed to potentially deadly working conditions – but it went on in the UK for decades in the last century and little was done about it. Now people are falling terminally ill as a result and, frankly, there is still comparatively little being done by government agencies to support them."
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