However, while the new measures will rightly benefit affected workers, Constructaquote.com has warned businesses that the introduction of the Bureau does not excuse them from their insurance requirements.

Lyndon Wood, CEO of Constructaquote.com, commented: "The Employers' Liability Insurance Bureau should help workers who have nowhere else to turn. The Bureau is especially relevant to employees who have contracted illnesses with symptoms that appear many years later – at which time their original employer may have relocated or ceased trading altogether.

"The risk, however, is that employers will see the Bureau as a direct replacement for the insurance itself. This would be false logic. Employers have an obligation to protect their employees and their business could face substantial fines if they fail to do so. The Bureau has been widely described as 'a fund of last resort', and this is exactly how it should be treated."

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement for all UK businesses with employees, and the Health and Safety Executive has the power to fine companies up to £2,500 for every day they have been without the necessary insurance.