If you live in Greater Manchester, and you have recently been diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma, your hospital may have asked us to ring you.

As an organisation, we advise people with asbestos diseases about the social security benefits they can claim. People with a high income, or a lot of savings, may be entitled to these particular benefits.

To give you the correct advice, we will need to know which asbestos-related disease you have. You cannot get social security benefits for pleural plaques. There are particular benefits which many people with asbestos diseases are eligible for, such as Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, and payments under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers Compensation) Act 1979.

If you are the family member of someone with an asbestos-related disease who has recently passed away, you may be able to claim social security benefits.

We have a wealth of experience in this part of the benefits system, and our advice is always free. Benefit rules can be complicated. Please contact us before applying for any of these benefits yourself.

If we think you are entitled to claim social security benefits, we will usually visit you in your own home to help you with the claim forms.

Though we are not solicitors, we can give you basic information on claiming civil compensation, and we can give the contact details of recommended solicitors.

You cannot claim civil compensation for pleural plaques if your only exposure to asbestos occurred in England.

If you have been exposed to asbestos as the result of your employer’s negligence, and you have developed an asbestos-related disease as a result, you may be entitled to civil compensation (i.e. compensation through the courts).

There is usually a 3 year deadline, from the date you were given your diagnosis, to make a claim for civil compensation.

In order to have the best chance of getting civil compensation, you should seek advice from a solicitor with experience in this area of the law.

If you live in the Greater Manchester area, or in the neighbouring areas of Cheshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, we can give you the contact details of recommended local solicitors.

If you live outside our area, check if there is a local Asbestos Victims Support Group in your area, as they will be able to give you contact details for recommended solicitors in your area.

What do I have to gain by contacting a solicitor?
Not everyone with an asbestos-related disease will be entitled to civil compensation, but many will. You will not know unless you get advice from a solicitor experience in this area of the law.

If the employer that exposed you to asbestos is no longer trading, your solicitor may still be able to bring a civil claim against that employer’s insurer.

Civil compensation, by its very nature, tends to be worth far more than benefits paid by the government. Civil compensation can be paid alongside almost all government benefits.

How much will it cost me?
If you have mesothelioma, none of the solicitors we recommend will charge you. If they tell you that you do not have a case, or if they lose your case, you do not have to pay anything. If they win your case, their fee does not come out of your compensation, but is recovered from the other side.

If you have a different asbestos-related disease, all of the solicitors we recommend work on a no-win no-fee basis.

GMAVSG abides by the Solicitors Regulation
Authority Referral Code.
We provide a list of solicitors who are experts in asbestos litigation and who act only for claimants. We never provide one solicitor selected from the list. We always provide the list in full for clients to choose from, if they wish to do so. We never contact any solicitor on behalf of our clients. We explain clearly that we receive an annual charitable donation from the solicitors on the list, which is not based on referrals to solicitors. We never refer any of our clients to solicitors. We provide a transparent and clear explanation of how we abide by the Referral Code to all our clients.