VICTIMS of asbestos exposure are receiving average compensation of £126,000 under a scheme widely attacked as inadequate, ministers say.

Payouts to people diagnosed with mesothelioma – or the families of those who have died – are on course to reach £32m in their first year.

The scheme was enormously controversial when it was launched earlier this year, for victims unable to trace the employer who exposed them to the deadly asbestos dust.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of internal organs, typically the lungs. It can take 40 years to develop after exposure – but then kills within nine months, on average.

The North-East is a renowned blackspot, because asbestos was used in shipbuilding, construction and the automotive industry.

Critics condemned the scheme as a cynical Government sell-out to insurance companies that will allow lawyers to swipe up to 25 per cent of damages payments.

They said the threatened introduction of fixed costs would allow insurers to drag out legal cases, piling pressure on the terminally ill to agree lower settlements.

And they attacked the fact that only victims diagnosed after July 2012 will receive payouts – denying help to huge numbers of older cases dating back decades.

THE figures are the Government’s first attempt to fight back against those criticisms, with ministers insisting they are “proud” of the help on offer.

By October, after seven months of the scheme, 232 applications had been received and 131 payments made, totalling £16.5m.

Mark Harper, the minister for disabled people, said the total amount that insurers were expected to pay out in 2014-15 was £32m, based on the first payments.

And he said: “For many years, sufferers of this terrible disease who cannot trace employers or insurers have been left without recourse to compensation.

“I am proud of what Government and stakeholders have achieved in delivering the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.”

Nearly 2,400 people, mostly men, die from mesothelioma every year. Annually, round 300 people struggle to find a relevant party to sue for damages.

A ‘standardised mortality ratio’ (SMR) is used to identify blackspots, where a figure of 100 would be the expected number of deaths, given the age of the population.

The figures are far, far higher in Hartlepool (240), Stockton-on-Tees (211), Sunderland (230), South Tyneside (317), Redcar and Cleveland (167) and Middlesbrough (140).

But Ian McFall, head of asbestos litigation at Thompsons Solicitors, stood by his criticism, saying: “This scheme pays victims of fatal mesothelioma only 80 per cent of average compensation.

“This scheme is the result of a cynical deal struck between insurers and the Government, to the detriment of mesothelioma claimants.”