The Mesothelioma Act 2014 (Commencement No.1) Order 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order commences certain provisions of the Mesothelioma Act 2014 (“the Act”).

Article 2 commences section 7 of the Act so as to enable the Secretary of State to make arrangements with a body to administer the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments Scheme (“the Scheme”) established by regulations made under section 1 and section 17(4) of the Act. Those arrangements need to be in place before the Scheme starts formally receiving applications.

Article 3 brings provisions of the Act into force on 31^st March 2014.

Article 3(a) commences sections 1 to 6 of the Act which relate to the establishment of and eligibility for the Scheme as well as the administration of the Scheme and payments under the Scheme.

Article 3(b) commences sections 8 to 10 of the Act which relate to various matters connected to the operation of the Scheme: unauthorised disclosure of information (sections 8 and 9) and the power of the scheme administrator to help people bring proceedings (section 10). Article 3(c) and (d) commence sections 11 and 12 along with their respective Schedules 1 and 2 which relate to provisions for the recovery of social security benefits and the affect of a scheme payment on eligibility for certain lump sum social security benefits where those benefits would be paid in respect of diffuse mesothelioma.

Article 3(e) commences section 14 of the Act which enables the Secretary of State to collect information from active insurers for the purpose of working out how much different insurers should be required to pay towards the levy.

Article 3(f) commences section 17 (regulations) and section 18 (defined terms) of the Act.

Article 4 commences on the 1^st September 2014 section 13 of the Act which creates the power to require active insurers (as defined in section 13 of the Act) to pay a levy.