Transport workers in London and other parts of Britain who are suffering from Covid-linked diseases may get special benefits, The Standard can reveal.
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) has been investigating the potential impacts of Covid since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
It is publishing a new report on how transport worker, teachers and those in the wider education section may have been affected.
More than 100 transport workers in London died with Covid during the pandemic, with tens of thousands more getting the virus.
The capital was one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic as the virus swept across the country.
The IIAC has concluded that, based on mortality data, the risks of infection with coronavirus are likely to be more than double in transport workers who were “working in proximity to the general public” during the pandemic.
The council therefore recommended that five diseases be treated as “prescribed” for certain transport workers.
This means that those suffering from these illnesses may be able to get industrial injuries related benefits, if the Department for Work and Pensions agrees to the proposed payments for this group of workers.
The individuals who may be eligible are workers in the bus/coach transport sectors, and taxis/private hire cars/cabs, who were working in proximity to the general public in the two weeks prior to getting infected with Covid.
The five diseases are:
* Persisting pneumonitis or lung fibrosis following acute Covid-19 pneumonitis.
* Persisting pulmonary hypertension caused by a pulmonary embolism developing between three days before and 90 days after a diagnosis of Covid-19.
* Ischaemic stroke developing within 28 days of a Covid-19 diagnosis.
* Myocardial infarction developing within 28 days of a Covid-19 diagnosis.
* Symptoms of Post Intensive Care Syndrome following ventilatory support treatment for Covid-19.
Industrial injuries related benefits can range from £44.30 to £221.50 a week, depending on the level of disability, and not all people who have been affected qualify.
The IIAC has already recommended that health and social care workers should be eligible to apply for some Covid-linked diseases.
But it concluded that there was not sufficiently strong evidence to recommend that this be the case for workers in the education sector.
More than two million people in the UK are believed to have had Long Covid, with more than a million of them having conditions which impact on their daily life, some for years.
On the council’s latest advice for transport workers, a DWP spokesperson said: “The Department is considering the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council’s recommendations and will provide a formal response in due course.”
