Maximum
£233.90 a week at 100% disablement
This is compensation for what a job did to a body, and it is separate from suing anyone. It covers the obvious accidents, but the bigger group of unclaimed cases is the slow ones: deafness from a noisy factory, a chest from years of dust, a knee from a lifetime underground.
Quick facts
- Maximum
- £233.90 a week at 100% disablement
- Threshold
- Normally assessed at 14% disabled or more
- Means tested
- No
- Can you work
- Yes, there is no work restriction
- Self-employed
- Not covered
- Where
- England, Scotland and Wales
What it pays
"The level of your disability will affect the amount of benefit you may get. This will be assessed by a 'medical advisor' on a scale of 1 to 100%."
"Normally you must be assessed as 14% disabled or more to get the benefit." Fourteen per cent is a lower bar than it sounds and it is where a lot of people give up before applying.
GOV.UK notes these amounts are a guide.
- "100% £233.90" · "90% £210.51" · "80% £187.12"
- "70% £163.73" · "60% £140.34" · "50% £116.95"
- "40% £93.56" · "30% £70.17" · "20% £46.78"
The diseases, not just the accidents
Most people think of IIDB as the thing you claim after falling off scaffolding. The bigger unclaimed group is people whose health was worn down over decades.
"The scheme covers more than 70 diseases, including: asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema - also known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), deafness, pneumoconiosis (including silicosis and asbestosis), osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners".
It also covers "prescribed disease A11 (previously known as vibration white finger)" and "Dupuytren's contracture", both of which come from years of using vibrating tools.
Asbestos conditions are covered in detail — asbestosis, diffuse mesothelioma, lung cancer with asbestosis, lung cancer without asbestosis where there was extensive occupational exposure, and diffuse pleural thickening.
Who can claim, and the one group who cannot
You need to have been employed, or on an approved employment training scheme or course, when the accident happened or when you did the work that caused the disease.
"the work accident or event that caused your illness or disability happened in England, Scotland or Wales". Northern Ireland runs its own equivalent.
And the hard exclusion: "You cannot claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit if you were self-employed." If you were employed then and self-employed now, that is fine — what matters is your status at the time.
What it does to your other benefits
This is the part worth getting right before you claim, because IIDB helps some people and quietly reduces others.
It sits happily alongside several: "You can still get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) if you're claiming: contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, New Style Jobseeker's Allowance, State Pension".
But "IIDB will affect the following benefits if you or your partner are claiming them: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Universal Credit", and it may affect Council Tax Reduction too.
So for a pensioner on the State Pension alone it is clear gain. For a household on Universal Credit it is more complicated, and worth running past an adviser before you assume the full amount lands.
How to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
You claim on a paper form, and which form you use depends on whether it was an accident or a disease.
Pick the right form
Use form BI100A for an accident at work, or form BI100PD for a disease caused by work.
Download it or ask for one by phone
Print the form from GOV.UK, or ask the Barnsley IIDB Centre to post one to you.
Fill it in and post it
The form comes with notes that help you fill it in and tell you where to send it.
You may have a medical assessment
Your claim is judged on your form, or at a face to face medical assessment if one is needed.
Challenge the decision if you disagree
If you think the decision is wrong, ask for a mandatory reconsideration.
Phone, forms and how long it takes
- Barnsley IIDB Centre
- 0800 121 8379
- Claim form for accidents caused by work
- form BI100A
- Claim form for diseases caused by work
- form BI100PD
- If you are refused
- You can ask DWP to look at the decision again. This is called mandatory reconsideration.
- Time limit to challenge
- Ask for mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date of the decision.
- If you still disagree
- You can then appeal to a tribunal, usually within one month of your mandatory reconsideration notice.
From the official pages (gov.uk), re-checked every night. Numbers and times can change, so check the official page before you send anything.
Common questions
Is Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit means tested?
No. Your income and savings are irrelevant and there is no restriction on working. It is compensation for disablement caused by employment, not a low-income benefit.
Can I claim IIDB if I am still working?
Yes. There is no work condition at all. Plenty of people claim it while in full-time employment, including with the same employer.
What is the 14% threshold?
A medical adviser assesses your level of disablement on a scale from 1 to 100%, and you normally need to be assessed at 14% or more to qualify. That is a lower bar than most people assume, which is why it is worth applying rather than deciding in advance that you would not qualify.
Does IIDB cover deafness from work?
Yes. Occupational deafness is one of more than 70 prescribed diseases the scheme covers, alongside COPD, asthma, asbestos conditions, vibration white finger, Dupuytren's contracture and osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners.
Can I claim if I was self-employed?
No. You must have been employed, or on an approved employment training scheme or course, at the time of the accident or the work that caused the disease. Self-employment is excluded.
Will it reduce my other benefits?
It can. IIDB does not affect contribution-based ESA, Incapacity Benefit, New Style Jobseeker's Allowance or the State Pension. It does affect income-related ESA, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Universal Credit, and it may affect Council Tax Reduction.