Public Inquiry

Meetings with Cabinet Office on compensation

Written by Jessica Bomford, January 28, 2025

More meetings have been scheduled between the government and campaign groups about compensation, following criticism that the views of the infected blood community are being ignored.

The Haemophilia Society, and other groups, met senior civil servants from the Cabinet Office on 20 January and another meeting with Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, the minister with responsibility for the government’s infected blood inquiry response, will take place on 30 January.

Meeting with senior civil servants on 20 January

Our Chief Executive, Kate Burt, attended the meeting with civil service officials on 20 January which was led by James Quinault, Director General of the Cabinet Office’s Public Inquiry Response.

Kate told Mr Quinault that there was ongoing anxiety about the compensation tariffs, particularly in relation to hepatitis C where the amounts do not capture the full impact of infection and the effects of early treatments. She reiterated that the amounts proposed for unethical testing are offensively low.

The urgent need for government funding to continue the Haemophilia Society’s advocacy work, as recommended by the Infected Blood Inquiry in May 2024, was also raised, alongside the need for guarantees about the Infected Blood Compensation Authority’s (IBCA) independence.

Unethical research consultation extended

The Cabinet Office team updated the meeting that four centres have been added to its consultation on unethical research, but the date range under consideration is unchanged as 1974 to 1984. The four additional centres are St Thomas’ in London, Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffield. The original centres were Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Oxford, the Royal Free in London.

Interim compensation to estates – 243 payments made

On interim compensation payments to estates, there have been 243 payments made with a further 40 approved for England. There are 140 claims in progress and 163 applications are currently with the probate service. We are supporting a number of people who continue to have difficulties with their claims for interim compensation, and we are in regular contact with Cabinet Office officials about on-going problems with the application process.

Next steps in Parliament

Mr Quinault said that campaign groups will see the secondary regulations which need to go before Parliament to give IBCA the power to pay compensation to certain groups. These include ‘affected’ claims which are independent of estates’ claims. The regulations will also set out details of ‘supplementary routes’ for compensation – additional tariffs and eligibility information for people who had higher than average financial loss or increased care needs due to their infections. The draft regulations could be laid in early February.

Support for bereaved partners

We were concerned to learn that the partner of anyone registered with a UK support scheme who dies after 1 April 2025 will not receive the same treatment as under the current support schemes. We know this is something our members are very worried about and, rightly, see as unfair. We believe bereaved partners should be able to continue to join the scheme after 1 April 2025 and should continue to receive the same support for their lifetime, as was originally the case.

Watch IBCA webinar

On 9 January 2025, David Foley, IBCA’s interim Chief Executive, took part in a webinar which was hosted by the Hepatitis C Trust and supported by the Haemophilia Society. He was asked questions about the government’s compensation scheme. You can watch the webinar here.