Infected blood inquiry: victims should receive £100,000 each ‘without delay’

The victims of the contaminated blood scandal should receive at least £100,000 in compensation each “without delay”, the chair of the inquiry examining the issue has recommended.

With more than 4,000 surviving victims of the scandal, the compensation payment is expected to reach at least £400m.

The infected blood inquiry was established to look at the circumstances in which patients treated by the NHS in the 1970s and 1980s received infected blood and blood products. At least 2,400 people died after contracting HIV or hepatitis C as a result of the blood products and as many as 30,000 people became severely ill.

The inquiry is also investigating the impact on their families, how the authorities responded and the care and support provided.

On Friday, Sir Brian Langstaff, the chair of the inquiry, recommended the level of interim compensation payments.

He said: “I am obliged to recognise that the practical way to make payments swiftly is to do so through the current infected blood support schemes. This is why I have decided to recommend that interim payments of no less than £100,000 are made to all infected people, and to all the bereaved partners currently registered with the schemes, and those who register between now and the inception of any future scheme.”

The recommendation comes after Boris Johnson was urged immediately to pay the interim amounts to those affected before more of them die.

In an open letter this month signed by groups including the Haemophilia Society and the Terrence Higgins Trust, which was hand-delivered to the prime minister, the signatories said that 419 people had died had between July 2017, when the inquiry was announced, and February this year, and that it had been reported that one infected person was dying every four days.

There are four infected blood schemes in the UK, and people are eligible for support if they were infected by hepatitis C or HIV from NHS blood or blood products, or if they are the spouse, civil or long-term partner of someone infected who has died.

Des Collins, a senior partner at Collins Solicitors, which represents some of the victims, said the compensation had “been due for decades.”

Collins added: “We look forward to the day when all victims of this scandal are properly compensated for their suffering, and for those whose decisions led to the ruining of countless innocent lives being held to account.”

Kate Burt, the chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, said: “The government has ignored the urgent and compelling case for interim compensation payments for too long. Today’s recommendations leave no room for doubt: many of those infected or bereaved are ill and dying and need compensation now.”

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 … with the utmost urgency, and will respond as soon as possible.”

The inquiry, which began in 2018, is due to publish its final report in the middle of next year.