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15 August, 2022 Open access

Growing evidence supports prescription of Covid-19 as an industrial disease

TUC says government's failure to compensate workers in high-risk occupations is ‘out of step’ with current data and policy responses of other countries

The TUC has called for Covid-19 to be prescribed as an industrial disease.

Highlighting evidence that exposure to Covid-19 at work can be a significant source of infection and that around one in ten people who contract the disease are at risk of long-term ill-health effects beyond 12 weeks, the TUC says it is now time that the government prescribes Covid-19 as an occupational disease.

NB - the legal requirements for prescription as an industrial disease under the Industrial Injuries Scheme are set out in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 which, in summary, are that there is a recognised risk to workers in an occupation and the link between disease and occupation can be established or reasonably presumed in individual cases.

For example, the TUC highlights evidence including -

As a result, the TUC calls for the government to act now and update the list of diseases and the occupations that cause them for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be paid to classify Covid-19 as an occupational disease.

NB - the TUC has also called for the government to recognise long-Covid as a disability under equality legislation, to help ensure that all working people with the condition are formally protected by employment law.

For more information, see Covid-19: An Occupational Disease from tuc.org.uk