Ex-health secretaries call for urgent blood scandal payoutson July 30, 2022 at 11:45 am

Victims of the infected blood scandal should receive compensation “immediately”, a lawyer representing about 1,500 claimants has said.

A judge said on Friday that provisional compensation of £100,000 should be paid to the more than 4,000 surviving victims as quickly as possible.

Lawyer Des Collins said payment must be made within “days or weeks” and he will be stepping up pressure from Monday.

The government has said it will urgently consider any recommendations.

Thousands of people contracted HIV or hepatitis C in the 1970s and 80s after being given a new treatment called factor VIII or IX. More than 2,400 have died as a result.

At the time, the medication was imported from the US where it was made from the pooled blood plasma of thousands of paid donors, including some in high-risk groups, such as prisoners.

If a single donor was infected with a blood-borne virus such as hepatitis or HIV, then the whole batch of medication could be contaminated.

The chairman of the infected blood public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said on Friday that individuals who currently qualify for financial support, including some bereaved partners of those killed, should now get payouts.

Mr Collins welcomed Sir Brian’s comments, telling BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme that victims should get the compensation straight away.

“When I say immediately I don’t mean within three months, I mean immediately,” Mr Collins said.

“It must be within days or weeks,” he added.

“I would have said 14 days is not an unreasonable time for the wheels to be put in motion and that’s what we will be asking for on Monday.”

Giving evidence in 2021, then health secretary Matt Hancock said “of course” compensation would be paid to victims and their families if the public inquiry formally called for it.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, Mr Hancock said he was confident the government would deliver pay-outs to victims and that it was its “moral duty” to do so.

Mr Hancock went on to say that compensation had not been paid yet because “in government, when a recommendation comes in like this, you do need to then check with each department”.

Currently, victims and families get an annual financial support payment but have not been compensated for loss of earnings, care costs and other lifetime losses.

Over the years, the government has put in place a number of schemes offering victims financial support without any admission of liability but, unlike in the Republic of Ireland and some other countries, compensation has never been paid to individuals or families affected.

Compensation would be intended to fund immediate bills and care needs, with final recommendations on compensation for a wider group of people expected when the inquiry concludes next year.

An independent study commissioned by the government, published last month, said victims should eventually be compensated for physical and social injury, the stigma of the disease, the impact on family and work life, and the cost of care.

Partners, children, siblings and parents of those who have been infected should be eligible for payments too, the study recommended.

If the inquiry and then the government accept those proposals then it is possible a final bill could be more than a billion pounds.

A government spokesperson said: “We recognise how important this will be for people infected and affected across the UK, and can confirm that the government will consider Sir Brian’s report and the recommendations of Sir Robert Francis QC with the utmost urgency, and will respond as soon as possible.”