SNP Ministers are trying to delay the full devolution of a key welfare benefit that could bring justice to retired footballers with dementia. The Scottish Government wants the DWP to continue providing industrial injury payments ten years after an agreement was struck to hand power to Holyrood.
Amanda Kopel, whose late husband Frank played for Dundee Utd before dying in 2014 after a battle with vascular dementia, hit out: “The Scottish Government are just kicking the can down the road and are failing by trying to delay it even further. It is frustrating and just not good enough. How many players have gone to their graves without getting any help?”
A study by Glasgow Uni boffin Willie Stewart found ex-footballers are about three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative brain disease. Defenders are five times more likely to have dementia than non-footballers, with experts blaming headers.
A campaign championed by former Scotland managers, including Sir Alex Ferguson, is calling for football-related dementia to be treated as an industrial injury. It would mean retired pros qualifying for social security benefits if the SNP Government changed the rules.
However, minutes of a meeting between both Governments in November reveal the hopes of campaigners may be dashed again. Devolving industrial injury benefits was agreed in 2014, but the SNP Government has since allowed the DWP to administer the system under an “agency” deal.
The minute states that the SNP Government would seek an “agreement in principle” to extend the DWP’s role in delivering the benefit. The agency agreement was supposed to end in April next year.
Labour MSP Michael Marra said: “This further delay is frankly unacceptable. This SNP Government could have acted years ago. It is unforgivable that they are choosing to do nothing. With every day that goes by, former players and their loved ones continue to suffer.”
STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said: “It’s an insult that the Scottish Government, already well into extra time on this, seem to yet again be delaying kick off on providing justice for injured workers. The evidence is abundantly clear: more and more footballers are falling foul of degenerative diseases as a result of their careers. This is an industrial injury. They deserve support and assistance like any other worker who has been injured as a result of their work.
“The Scottish Government have the welfare powers and, due to increased Barnet consequentials from the UK Government, they have the resources to fund this benefit. It’s high time they blow the whistle on their dithering and get on with providing the support needed for workers across the country.”
An increasing number of football legends have died after receiving a dementia diagnosis following a career heading the ball. Celtic legend Billy McNeill and fellow Scotland great Gordon McQueen also passed away after a battle with dementia.
In 2021, Manchester United and Scotland hero Denis Law insisted heading the ball was to blame for his dementia. He said: “What else would it be? You were heading the ball, which was quite heavy in those days, but you didn’t think about it. We just thought it was normal.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Industrial Injuries Scheme was introduced more than 75 years ago to provide social security support to workers, typically from heavy, historically state-owned, industries who became disabled or developed a long-term health condition as a result of their employment. We are prioritising longer term reform so that Employment Injury Assistance better meets Scotland’s needs. This is the option which was supported by the largest number of responses when we consulted on the benefit
“We are setting up a stakeholder group to assist in this and the Social Justice Secretary wrote to the DWP in December to seek in principle agreement for the current agency agreement to be extended while this work is carried out.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, clickhere