The BNFL/UKAEA CSMB has once again continued its successful operation of the Compensation Scheme and this report notes the key issues since last year’s report to CSC.
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There has been a decrease in claims arising this year (10 compared with 24 last year).
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Since the last Council meeting, the majority (19 of 24) of new claims arising have been under the Morbidity Scheme.
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This year 1 BNFL and 2 UKAEA cases have passed screening.
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One BNFL case and one UKAEA case await determination by the Expert Panel
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One UKAEA case awaits agreement of the Factual Report before it can be determined.
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One UKAEA case awaits a medical report before Quantum can begin.
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Five BNFL cases and two UKAEA cases are at Quantum
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Two BNFL cases have been settled during the year.
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The total number of cases involving BNFL or UKAEA has now reached 747 since the Scheme was introduced in 1982, a figure which now includes all cases relating to BNFL Magnox stations.
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The CSMB has continued to monitor the achievement of target timescales and is now focussing primarily on three key performance indicators, namely time from receipt of claim to issue of screening data (or case assessment report), time from receipt to closure (for unsuccessful cases) and time from receipt to determination (for successful cases). 83% of all cases have been screened within the six month target; 54% of unsuccessful cases have been closed within the nine month target and 54% of successful cases have been determined within the 12 month target. Given the circumstances, these are thought to be acceptable performance levels. However, vigilance is necessary to ensure that these levels are maintained and, if possible, improved upon.
It is noted that there was a general downturn in performance for cases ongoing through the second half of 2004; this was due to the Executive Secretary’s unusually high workload over this period leading to a backlog of casework. This was cleared in early 2005 and BNFL Group Legal have put arrangements in place to provide the Executive Secretary with additional support, should it be required.
In 2004, the Board undertook to keep Council appraised of developments caused by the Energy Act 2004 and the advent of the Nuclear Decommisioning Authority. In April 2005, BNFL plc was re-structured to form the BNFL Group. The nuclear site licenses are now held by three Site Licence Companies (SLC’s), British Nuclear Group Sellafield, Magnox Electric Ltd and Springfields Fuels Ltd and thus these companies are now the Scheme employers for the BNFL Group. Other companies created by the re-structuring have been made specified companies in order to maintain access to the Scheme for all former BNFL employees.
21 October 2005
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