Infected blood scandal victims to lastly get compensation in £10billion scheme

Victims of the infected blood scandal will finally receive the compensation they deserve in a £10billion scheme.

Paymaster General John Glen is giving details of how much those affected and their loved ones will get – although there are questions about how quickly it will be paid.

More than 30,000 people were infected with deadly viruses between the 1970s and early 1990s as they received blood transfusions or blood products while receiving NHS care. The victims and their families have campaigned for decades for proper compensation.

The Government will set up the Infected Blood Compensation Authority to distribute money. People living with chronic infections will be prioritised for payments. Around £10billion has been earmarked by ministers for the scheme, but a refined estimate of the final cost will be released at the next Budget.

Mr Glen described the scandal as an “appalling tragedy” and said: “The whole community’s bravery through immense suffering is what’s enabled justice today.” He confirmed that barrister Sir Robert Francis KC has been appointed interim chairman of the new Infected Blood Compensation Authority. Those “directly or indirectly” affected by the infected blood scandal will be eligible to claim compensation under the scheme, Mr Glen said.

Payouts will be made to the relatives of those who died, he said. Partners, parents, siblings, children, friends and family who acted as carers will be eligible, MPs heard. Those already registered with infected blood support schemes will automatically be eligible, Mr Glen said.

He said Sir Robert would discuss the compensation scheme with those affected before its terms are set in stone.

Rishi Sunak’s government has faced criticism over the delays to compensation. The PM was heckled by victims as he appeared at the Infected Blood Inquiry last summer.

In April last year, inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff demanded the compensation scheme was established before his final report was published. He insisted that “no time must be wasted in delivering redress”, but his recommendation was ignored.

As he delivered his findings yesterday, the former High Court judge condemned the delay as a “serious failing, which replicates the wrongs of the past” and “compounds the harm which has already been inflicted”. He suggested there should have been more urgency when one person dies every four days as a result of infected blood.

So far about £400million has been paid out through interim compensation payments of £100,000 to infected people or bereaved partners. But parents who lost children and children who lost parents have not been given them.

The Infected Blood Inquiry found the scandal that has claimed the lives of 3,000 people “could largely have been avoided”. Sir Brian found there had been a “chilling” cover-up to hide the truth. Deliberate attempts were made to conceal the disaster, including evidence of Whitehall officials destroying documents.

Mr Sunak has issued a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to the victims, saying the publication of the report into the disaster was “a day of shame for the British state”.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride this morning said the prosecution of officials and politicians for corporate manslaughter over scandal is “not inconceivable” and is something that “should and will be looked at” by the police.

At a press conference in Vienna when asked if there should be criminal prosecutions of those found to have done wrong during the course of the scandal, Mr Sunak said: “As I said yesterday, anyone, people, individuals, where there is evidence of wrongdoing, of course there must be justice and accountability for that. But the report is very long, it is very comprehensive, and what I am committed to is the Government will now take the time to go through it properly and rigorously before responding in Parliament, and, of course, any individual cases will be a matter for the relevant authorities.”