Personal injury lawyers have welcomed government plans to help people obtain compensation if they cannot trace their employers’ liability insurance policies.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation on setting up an Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO), which will manage an electronic database of employers’ liability policies.

It has also set out plans for a compensation fund of last resort, the Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB).

Currently, people who cannot trace the insurer of their current or past employer cannot obtain compensation for accidents or industrial disease. A voluntary tracing service run by insurers already exists, but 3,210 people remained uncompensated in 2008, the DWP said.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said it was ‘delighted’ with the proposals, but warned that they must be supported throughout parliament. ‘Injured and dying people have waited too long for this development for it to founder in the party political waters of the election,’ it said. ‘Cross-party commitment to urgent action must be made so more people do not die uncompensated.’

Ian McFall, head of asbestos litigation at national firm Thompsons, added: ‘This positive move is as welcome as it is overdue. We have said for many years that what is good enough for road traffic accident victims is good enough for the workers.’

The DWP is consulting on the funding and management of the ELTO and the type of accident or disease to be covered by the ELIB, among other things.