Care for Victims
Protect the Public
Prevent Future Exposure
To be frank, this simply is not the case due to the prevalence of asbestos across the country. Despite the UK’s ban on asbestos since 1999 the public continues to be exposed to this deadly material on a daily basis – with lethal consequences.
The sad reality is that too many victims and families continue to suffer from the hardship and the heartbreak caused by exposure to asbestos across this country.
Asbestos Strategy UK seeks a new vision. It’s time to comprehensively tackle the UK’s asbestos legacy.
Asbestos is a dangerous, life-threatening material, killing thousands of people across the UK each year.
Asbestos remains the UK’s no.1 cause of death in the workplace – responsible for causing deadly cancers such as mesothelioma, alongside other asbestos-related cancers and diseases. The UK has one of the highest levels of mesothelioma death rates in the world.
No central records exist that quantify the total amount of asbestos in UK buildings – best estimates suggest 6 million tonnes are present across 1.5 million UK buildings, including over 80% of schools and 90% NHS trusts.This could equate to as many as 150 million items of asbestos.
This cannot be left to future generations to tackle – failure to act will cost thousands of additional lives.
The legacy of asbestos across the UK presents a whole-of-society challenge. Action to resolve this crisis must be taken in a coordinated, comprehensive manner.
We are advocating for the UK Government to develop a National Asbestos Strategy, providing a comprehensive plan to address the UK’s asbestos crisis. It is essential this strategy delivers on three main pillars:
No-one in the UK should suffer as a result of exposure to asbestos. However, for too many people this is their reality.
All victims of asbestos exposure deserve access to excellent, specialised medical care and access to efficient and effective compensation and legal services.
Exposure is happening now – to people across the UK on a daily basis. To protect the public the UK Government must rapidly improve the current management of asbestos. A first step should be the creation of a National Asbestos Database, to significantly improve our understanding of the location, condition and risks presented by asbestos items across the country.
Ultimately, we need a permanent solution to this asbestos crisis. This can only be achieved through a phased removal of asbestos in a manner which both saves lives and public funds. This must first start with asbestos which presents the highest level of risk to the public, in places such as schools and hospitals.
Asbestos Strategy UK is a non-partisan campaign set up to bring together voices from across society to work positively with the UK Government, calling upon them to develop a nationwide strategy to eliminate the risks posed by asbestos to the public.
This campaign has been set up and is operated on a 100% voluntary basis, founded by those who have been directly impacted by the consequences of asbestos exposure, who know what it can do to the people you love.
We work to serve the interests of victims, and their families, to ensure that future generations do not have to suffer the hardship and heartbreak that asbestos has created across our communities.
At the start of 2025, the Government indicated a momentous change in its asbestos policy, stating for the first time that there is agreement to “ultimately look to remove asbestos entirely from the built environment”.
However, this statement has yet to be converted into significant action. Therefore, this campaign has been started to work with all partners advocating for better regulation, and support the Government to translate this policy directive into a reality.
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Knock on anyone’s door across the country and ask about the great domestic challenges which the UK faces. We can all guess what the issues will be: the state of the economy, the costs of living, concerns on welfare, the NHS, water quality, immigration, or climate change.
Asbestos is not likely to be mentioned.
As grassroots activists and campaigners, we will use our voices to speak out and underline to the Government that action is urgently needed.
There are many ways to get involved – even the smallest of individual actions can have an impact when built up together across the country. If you are interested to learn more, please send us an email at campaign@asbestos-strategy.uk