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Government publishes updated compensation proposals

Written by Sam Wilson, August 16, 2024

The government have this morning published an update on the compensation scheme and interim compensation authority chair Sir Robert Francis’ recommendations on the workings and tariffs of the scheme.

They have also published the detailed work of the expert group that advised the Cabinet Office on tariffs for compensation for people infected and affected by contaminated blood and blood products.

The government has accepted most of the recommendations, rejecting three recommendations on the rates used to uprate payments, a change that would allow affected people to make claims for care costs as part of an infected person’s claim and it has decided not to increase or review payments through the support schemes at this time.

The most important change is that support payments through the infected blood support schemes will continue for life, and any support payments received after 1 April 2025 will only be deducted from the part of compensation for future loss and future care needs. This should mean that people who are in receipt of those payments will still get substantial compensation as well as having the security of regular support payments for life if they wish.

The other changes are focussed on providing more clarity on the tariffs and proposed payments, some small changes to certain parts of the compensation tariffs and providing more support, financial advice and legal advice to people making claims for compensation

Psychological impact, illegal testing and the effect of hepatitis C and its treatment have been reconsidered but concerns remain that the tariff levels are not always fair, do not provide sufficient compensation for some, and do not take into account the full extent of people’s suffering and loss. A supplementary route will be created to allow people to personalise their claim but, the stigma of treatment with contaminated blood products, illegal testing, the impact of interferon treatment, liver health post treatment and the psychological impact of exposure to vCJD are some of the issues that many feel are not fully compensated in the current tariffs.

We hope that the additional information published today will help people to understand the reasoning behind the compensation tariff payment levels and allow people to have a better idea of the compensation they will be able to claim when the scheme opens for applications in the autumn.

The full details of the compensation scheme will be published next week with an explainer guide to help people understand what is proposed. The details of the core route scheme will be laid as secondary legislation which will come into effect immediately, to allow IBCA to continue its work, but will need to be approved by parliament when it returns in September. Further regulations will be laid in the autumn to create the supplementary route for claimants to get additional compensation based on their personal situation.