Thousands of workers suffering from asbestos-related diseases may be eligible for £5,000 grants as annouced by the Ministry of Justice today.  

Despite Law Lords ruling, unchanged during the Labour Government, preventing sufferers of pleural plaques from claiming compensation, payments of £5,000 will be available to people already in the process of a legal claim for compensation.

This could affect up to 6,000 people.

The scheme opens on Tuesday and sufferers in England and Wales have until August 1, 2011 to lodge a claim.