Asbestos Solicitor commends Government U-turn on company records disposal plan

Corries Asbestos team have welcomed the Government’s decision to scrap plans to reduce the amount of time company records are held for.

At the moment if a company is dissolved the records are retained for 20 years. The Government had planned to allow the destruction of records of companies which had been dissolved for longer than six years.

The Government has now announced that there will be no destructions of any records currently held on dissolved companies. This will be the case unless there is agreed change of policy. The Government has also confirmed there is no plan to change this policy without full public consultation.

Howard Bonnett of Corries specialist Asbestos legal team was one of many lawyers planning to take the government to task.

Comment

Howard commented

“It is absolutely vital that Asbestos disease victims get access to historic company records. They need these to trace the company or insurer responsible for their disease.

 My team are pleased that the government has taken this sensible step. They have backtracked from a process which would have denied compensation to thousands of asbestos victims and their families.

 Work with asbestos victims shows that their exposure to asbestos occurred up to 60 years ago. Reducing times at all for keeping company documents would be a potentially dangerous step.

With modern computer storage methods there is no reason why this material cannot be kept.

 I fully expect Companies House will make sure and maintain its commitments to those suffering from asbestos disease both now and into the future”

Medical papers confirm that asbestos disease will affect former workers and their families for at least another 25 years.

If you or a member of your family have been affected by asbestos disease then contact our Specialist Asbestos team now for a free no obligation discussion on 0800 083 7839.