Uncertainty remains for infected blood scandal victims as year draws to a close - Lynn Carey

Meaningful consultaion with government still seems to be sadly lacking, says ​Lynn Carey

There have been a number of developments regarding compensation for those impacted by the infected blood scandal since publication of the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry in May 2024.

The Second Interim Report of the Infected Blood Inquiry in April 2023 recommended that interim payments of £100,000 should be made to recognise deaths of people where there had been no interim payment made to date, and to alleviate immediate suffering. The Chair, Sir Brian Langstaff, set out how these payments should be divided between living relatives of the deceased infected person.

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One of the provisions of the Victim and Prisoners Act 2024, which passed final parliamentary stages in the “wash up” before the general election this summer, was a requirement on the government to make interim compensation payments of £100,000 to estates of infected people who had died, where certain criteria were met. An estate is eligible if the person who died was registered with one of the existing or previous financial support schemes as at 17 April 2024, and where no interim payment has previously been made to the infected person, their bereaved partner or their estate.

Lynn Carey is an Associate with Thompsons Solicitors Scotland.Lynn Carey is an Associate with Thompsons Solicitors Scotland.
Lynn Carey is an Associate with Thompsons Solicitors Scotland.

Applications for these payments opened in late October 2024, 18 months after the recommendation by Sir Brian Langstaff, and payments of interim compensation have begun via the existing support schemes. In cases of estates of people who passed away many years ago where they did not have a partner, or where their partner has since passed away, this is long awaited recognition of their suffering via payment of interim compensation.

The scheme deviates from the recommendation made by the Inquiry, as interim payments are to be made to estates rather than to the individuals as recommended by the Inquiry. There has been some confusion over payments to estates, with applicants receiving contradictory information about entitlement to this payment, and clarification from the Government is awaited.

The wider Infected Blood Compensation Scheme has opened for a small number of infected applicants to make claims, with the aim of starting small and testing the process as they go, and they plan to invite increasing numbers of infected applicants to make claims in early 2025. The Second set of Regulations for supplementary route claims and for relatives of infected people to make claims are expected in early 2025. Campaigners have emphasised the importance of engagement with the community on the content of these regulations.

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There have been some significant concerns expressed about recent engagement, or lack of engagement, by the Cabinet Office with those impacted regarding the scheme. To avoid repeating mistakes of the past, as highlighted so eloquently in the final report of the Inquiry, meaningful consultation is vital with those who have been infected and affected, and for the scheme to be independent from government.

The need for independence from government was a cornerstone of the compensation scheme as recommended by Sir Brian Langstaff. There have been recent interventions by the Inquiry Chair regarding eligibility criteria for siblings to receive compensation, and on December 9 he wrote to the body administering claims, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), setting out his concerns following receipt of correspondence from the infected blood community. Recent meetings between the Cabinet Office and campaign groups have not allayed these concerns.

As another year draws to a close, the uncertainty continues for those infected and their families in this long-running scandal.

Lynn Carey is an Associate with Thompsons Solicitors Scotland

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