Infected blood victims will stand up to £2.7million every after years of delays

Families who have lost loved ones in the infected blood scandal have warned that compensation payments are too little too late as they were finally announced.

Victims who contracted HIV and hepatitis C will receive up to £2.7million each with the first claims settled by the end of this year. Cabinet Office Minister John Glen today said “time is of the essence” as he announced interim payments of £210,000 would be paid to survivors within 90 days.

But grieving relatives questioned why it had taken so long for ministers to agree to the scheme with 3,000 people already having lost their lives. Infected Blood Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff recommended in April last year that the Government set up the compensation scheme without waiting for his final report, which was published on Monday.

Heather Evans, whose husband Perry died five weeks ago, asked: “Why was this not announced a year ago? In that year so many people have died including Perry.” Mr Evans received contaminated blood products while having treatment for haemophilia. He was given two to three years to live when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 but survived until earlier this year.

Campaigners also questioned when bereaved relatives, such as parents who lost children and children who lost parents, would get any money. Ministers today refused to say when payments to them would begin.

Jason Evans, from Coventry, was four-years-old when his dad Jonathan died after he was infected with HIV and hepatitis C while being treated for haemophilia. He said: “Today’s announcement will be a gut-punch to most bereaved families, who have still received no compensation at all.”

Gene Matthews from Leigh Day, a law firm representing 300 victims, said it was “disappointing” the Government “did not take up his (Sir Brian’s) recommendations for a compensation scheme more than a year ago”.

Around £10billion has been earmarked by ministers for the compensation scheme, but a refined estimate of the final cost will be released at the next Budget. Up to 1,000 caseworkers will be recruited to handle the claims. All payments will be exempt from income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.

The Government published figures showing that someone infected with hepatitis C could receive up to £1.6million, those with HIV up to £2.6million and those who contracted both up to £2.7million. However, in some circumstances people could get higher amounts.

The estate’s of people who have already died will be entitled to get the money. The partners, parents, children and siblings of infected people may also be entitled to separate compensation payments. The scheme will remain open to applications for compensation until 31 March 2031, although it will be extended for people who have infections newly diagnosed between now and then.

Sir Brian insisted that “no time must be wasted in delivering redress” as he called for the scheme to be established a year ago, but his recommendation was ignored. As he delivered his final report on Monday, 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.

The inquiry found the scandal “could largely have been avoided” and there had been a “chilling” cover-up to hide the truth. Rishi Sunak on Monday 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 today 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.