Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) Convention, 1925 (No. 17) - Gibraltar

Article 7 of the Convention. Additional compensation. According to section 16 of the Social Security (Employment Injuries Insurance) Act No. 10 of 1952, as amended, the disablement pension can be increased in cases in which a person with assessed disability of 100 per cent needs constant attendance. According to Schedule 1 to the same Act, only injuries described in items 1 to 6 are recognized to entail a disability of 100 per cent. The Committee understands that, pursuant to items 17 and 18 of that Schedule, for example, a person who has been amputated of both feet is only assessed with a disablement of 90 or 80 per cent. The Government states in its report that it considers the legislation to be in line with Article 7 of the Convention. The Committee recalls however that the Convention does not limit the constant attendance allowance to cases of 100 per cent disability but rather considers the need for such attendance, requiring the allowance to be granted as long as the need for help by a third person subsists. The Committee would therefore ask the Government to explain the kind of supplementary assistance that victims of employment injury with a permanent disability of less than 100 per cent can receive and for how long if their situation requires the constant help of another person. Please specify the applicable normative texts.

Article 9. Pharmaceutical aid. The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, the victims of industrial accidents who are not hospitalized are liable to pay the fees for the medicine prescribed by a medical doctor in accordance with the Medical (Group Practice Scheme) Regulations. The Committee points out that such regulation contradicts the Convention which requires that the cost of pharmaceutical aid recognized to be necessary in consequence of occupational accidents must be defrayed either by the employer, by accident insurance institutions, or by sickness or invalidity insurance institutions. The Committee asks the Government to amend the said regulations accordingly.

Conclusions and recommendations of the Standards Review Mechanism. The Committee notes that, at its 328th Session in October 2016, the Governing Body of the ILO adopted the conclusions and recommendations formulated by the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group (SRM TWG), recalling that Conventions Nos 12, 17, 24, 25 and 42, to which the United Kingdom is party and which are applicable to its non-metropolitan territories, are outdated and charging the Office with follow-up work aimed at encouraging States party to these Conventions to ratify the Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121), the Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130), and/or extend the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), to these territories, as these represent the most up-to-date instruments in this subject area. The Committee reminds the Government of the availability of ILO technical assistance in this regard.