Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Minister imposed a levy under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments scheme on relevant insurers at 2.2 per cent of the gross written premiums for employers liability insurance policies and not three per cent as anticipated.
The 3% figure was the maximum percentage of the active employers’ liability insurance market to be levied on the insurance industry to recoup the costs of the scheme. This figure is a cap rather than a set rate. This first year’s levy rate has been based on the estimated costs of the Scheme, extrapolated from only the first seven months of its operation. As this is a demand led scheme, the calculations for the levy are done afresh each year. An upturn in applications to the Scheme would result in a higher levy rate in future years, therefore the levy rate is under continual active review.