Family members can help in practical ways: spotting the signs, encouraging a hearing test, piecing together a work history and making the first call to a solicitor. If a parent, partner or grandparent spent years in Sheffield’s steelworks, forges or metal trades and now struggles to hear, they may be entitled to compensation, even decades after leaving. The claim is made in their name and they stay in control of it, but many claims only begin because someone close to them noticed and asked the question.

This guide explains what families can do, what information helps, and what happens if the person cannot manage a claim themselves or has died.

How can family members help with a hearing loss claim?

Most of the practical work can be shared. Hearing loss creeps up slowly, and the person affected often adapts without realising how much they are missing. Family members are often the ones who:

• notice the problem first, at the dinner table, on the phone or in a busy room
• encourage a hearing test through a GP, NHS audiology or a high street hearing centre
• help list past employers, job titles and rough dates, which is often the hardest part after thirty or forty years
• make the first phone call and join conversations with the solicitor, if the person wants them there

What a family member cannot normally do is run the claim instead of the person. The law presumes that an adult has the mental capacity to make their own decisions (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 1), so the solicitor will take instructions from the person directly, with the family there to support them.

What signs suggest noise at work damaged someone’s hearing?

The signs families notice most are everyday ones. RNID, the national hearing loss charity, lists turning the television up louder than others want, struggling on the phone, finding conversation hard to follow in pubs and restaurants, and a partner complaining they are not being listened to. Ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears (tinnitus) is also common after years of industrial noise.

Hearing loss is widespread and often left untreated. RNID estimates that more than 18 million people in the UK are deaf, have hearing loss or have tinnitus, and reports that people wait an average of 10 years before seeking help. Getting hearing checked matters for health as well as for a claim: the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia lists hearing loss among 14 risk factors that can be changed, and reports stronger evidence that treating hearing loss may lower dementia risk.

A hearing test can usually show whether noise played a part. Noise damage typically appears on an audiogram (a chart of how well someone hears at each pitch) as a dip in the higher pitches in both ears, which an independent specialist can distinguish from the gradual decline that comes with age.

Why did Sheffield’s steel and metal works damage so many people’s hearing?

Because so many people worked there, often for decades, around heavy machinery that produced continuous and impact noise. Research published by Sheffield Hallam University in 2026 records that 140,000 people worked in Sheffield’s steel industry in 1971, around half of all jobs in the city. Melting shops, rolling mills, forges, drop hammers and grinding and fettling shops were part of daily working life for a generation of Sheffield families.

Employers were expected to protect workers from noise from 1963 at the latest, and the Supreme Court confirmed in 2011 that 90 dB(A) over an eight-hour day was the proper standard for an ordinary employer until the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 took effect on 1 January 1990. Our guide for Sheffield steelworkers explains these duties in more detail.

Can someone still claim years after retiring?

Often, yes. The time limit for a hearing loss claim is three years, but under sections 11 and 14 of the Limitation Act 1980 it usually runs from the “date of knowledge”: when the person first knew their hearing loss was significant and linked to their work. Many retired steelworkers only make that connection after a hearing test in their sixties or seventies, so they may be within time even if they left the works in the 1980s. Where more time has passed, section 33 gives the court a discretion to allow a late claim if that would be fair.

Official figures do not capture retired workers: the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimate of around 15,000 workers a year with hearing problems caused or made worse by work (2022/23 to 2024/25) only counts people who have worked in the last twelve months. Retirement does not affect the right to claim, and neither does the works having closed: compensation is paid by the insurer that covered the employer at the time. Employers’ liability insurance became compulsory on 1 January 1972 under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, and the Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) runs a database that helps trace insurers, including historic policies.

What information can the family help gather?

A rough work history is the most useful thing a family can put together. It does not need to be perfect. Helpful details include:

• the name of each employer, the department or shop, the job and the approximate years
• what the noise was like, whether ear protection was offered, and from when
• names of former workmates who might remember the conditions
• payslips, P60s, pension letters, union cards or long service certificates
• any hearing test results, and when someone first suggested the loss might be work-related

Where memories are patchy, HMRC can help. Its online records only cover recent years, but it has a paper request form for older employment history that lists industrial deafness as a reason for asking. A solicitor can make the request with the person’s written consent, and WE Solicitors does this as part of the claim.

What if a parent cannot manage the claim themselves?

If someone lacks the mental capacity to run a claim, for example because of advanced dementia, the court rules allow a litigation friend to act for them. A litigation friend is a family member, friend or someone holding a lasting or enduring power of attorney who makes decisions about the claim on the person’s behalf (Civil Procedure Rules, Part 21). They must act fairly and competently and have no conflicting interest.

Being elderly, wearing hearing aids or finding phone calls difficult is not the same as lacking capacity. In those situations the person stays in charge, and we adapt how we communicate: writing things down, meeting in person where that helps, or speaking with a family member present.

What happens if the person has died?

The claim does not necessarily end. Under section 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934, a claim survives for the benefit of the person’s estate. If they died within their own three-year period, the estate generally has three years from the date of death, or from when the person dealing with the estate first knew of the link to work if that is later (Limitation Act 1980, section 11(5)). The executor or administrator usually brings the claim on the estate’s behalf.

How does WE Solicitors help families?

WE Solicitors has handled industrial deafness claims for workers across the North of England since 2001. Family members are welcome on every call. We arrange and fund an independent hearing test and medical report, trace each employer’s insurer, and handle the paperwork, so neither the person nor the family is left doing the heavy lifting. Most hearing loss claims settle without a court hearing, and compensation is valued using the Judicial College Guidelines (18th edition, April 2026).

Frequently asked questions

Does the family have to pay anything?

No. Hearing loss claims at WE Solicitors run on a no win, no fee basis with a free initial assessment, so there is nothing to pay up front and nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed.

Can a family member make the first call?

Yes. Many enquiries begin with a son, daughter or partner. We can then speak with the person and the family together.

Can someone claim if they already have NHS hearing aids?

Yes. Having hearing aids does not affect the right to claim, and compensation can include the cost of better or private hearing aids where the medical evidence supports it.

What if they worked for several Sheffield employers?

A claim can be brought against more than one former employer, with responsibility shared between their insurers according to the noise exposure in each job.

Talk to us about a hearing loss claim

If someone in your family worked in Sheffield’s steel or metal industries and is now struggling to hear, a short conversation can establish whether they may have a claim. Call 0800 294 3065 or complete our online enquiry form for a free, no-obligation assessment. You can also read our guide to industrial disease in Sheffield’s steel, forging and cutlery trades.

Sources: RNID, Signs of hearing loss (updated June 2026); RNID, Prevalence of deafness and hearing loss (updated August 2026); RNID, Your patients with hearing loss (updated September 2026); Livingston et al., Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission; Sheffield Hallam University, Implications of Steel Decarbonisation for Workers and Communities (2026); HSE, Noise induced hearing loss statistics in Great Britain (updated January 2026); Supreme Court, [2011] UKSC 17 (13 April 2011); Noise at Work Regulations 1989; Limitation Act 1980, section 11; section 14; section 33; Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934, section 1; Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 1; Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969; Employers’ Liability Tracing Office; HMRC, Employment history request; GOV.UK, Litigation friend; Civil Procedure Rules, Part 21.